by C. Ellsworth
Addy started to answer, but there was already enough grit in her teeth. Instead, she took hold of the back of his leather vest and clung tightly. She wouldn’t lose him in the storm again. They continued stepping away until the three canth were lost in the storm, left to their meal. Then they turned and ran, Ryan falling back a step to put himself between her and the canth, should the beasts decide to secure a second or third meal for another day.
As they ran, they called out to Traizen and Karine, but there came no answer. And with visibility down to a few scant feet, it was impossible to tell if they were even going in the right direction.
The Blackstorm voices still echoed in Addy’s head, thirsty and desperate. They were close now, those skeletal apparitions. The air was so cold she might have been able to see her own breath if she could have seen anything at all in this storm. At any moment, she’d feel those icy, clawed hands gripping at her flesh.
Traizen’s startled voice suddenly cried out. He was close! Addy continued at a run, with Ryan close behind, by the sound of it. Where was Traiz—
The ground suddenly fell out beneath her.
Addy struck hard and tumbled, coming to land facedown. What happened? She lay there a moment with eyes closed tight. Her left elbow ached a little, and her right hip was probably bruised, but by the Tower’s luck, nothing seemed to have been broken.
Something moved beneath her.
Addy blinked open her eyes, and Traizen’s face peered up at her. He was lying beneath her, arms wrapped gently around her waist. He didn’t say anything. He just lay there. Well, this was awkward!
Addy let out an exasperated groan and leaped to her feet, Traizen rising beside her. The two of them were at the bottom of a crevice, a great crack in the gray earth. The air here was almost clear, the swirling dust not reaching into its fifteen-foot depth.
Suddenly, Ryan and Karine called to them from above, appearing as faint outlines in the storm at the edge of the sharp drop-off. They clearly had been more careful with their steps than Addy and Traizen.
“We’re all right!” Addy shouted back to them, voice nearly lost in the howl of the wind. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get back up, though.”
Ryan’s shout rang out through the storm. “No! Stay there. We’re coming down.”
The sky was nearly black now as the two climbed down to join them, the wind howling fiercely above. Addy could hear the distant whispers so clearly now. “Do you hear that, the voices?”
The others stopped and listened, but they all shook their heads. Ryan shot her a worried glance. “There’s nothing there, Addy! It’s just the wind.”
Addy nodded, her heart pounding, but the voices could not be ignored. They were still there in the distance, growing louder by the moment. “It smells the blooooood. It must . . . haaaaave it!” She placed her hands over her ears, but it only blocked out the sound of the wind, leaving the voice louder still. “Can we go, please?” Her voice was pleading. “It’s . . . it’s not safe here, I don’t think.”
Together the companions moved along the crevice, searching for a place to weather out the storm. The way was all but lost in the dim light, especially down here where not even the Spire’s beam could reach. Would she be able to see at all when the Blackstorm swarmed over them?
A hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her sideways toward the ground. She cried out. Lord, help me! They’re here already! But then Traizen’s voice called out to her. “Here!” It was his hand holding her! His warm, living hand! She knelt beside him and bit her tongue to suppress a whimper of relief.
“This will have to do!” Traizen shouted over the rumble of the storm.
The four of them were huddled together in a small, hollow space in the side of the crevice. Addy moved toward the back. If those things in the storm found her, they would have to fight their way through Traizen and Ryan to get to her. Maybe she was being a coward, but those two had far more training than either her or Karine.
At the back of the hollow, Addy huddled with knees drawn up to her chest. Ryan, crouching before her, had a hand gripped on the handle of his sword, dark eyes trained outward beneath furrowed brows. Everything seemed to be falling apart, and disaster lurked around every corner they came to. Sorsia’s voice echoed suddenly in her mind. No one said this was going to be easy, Princess! Addy breathed a sigh.
Though the wind did not reach so much into the depths of the crevice, it howled like a death song, and only when lightning flashed did Addy see more than just dark silhouettes against the background. Traizen and Ryan hunched at the opening with weapons in hand, and whenever there came a flash of lightning, she saw the set of their jaws and the tightness in their eyes. She herself held on to her daggers so tight her fingers began to cramp.
Karine stirred beside her. “What will we do when they get here, the . . . things in the storm?” She spoke with desperation. “The manor has a special room we always go to when the Blackstorm comes.”
Face still turned outward, Ryan replied, “They say the things cannot be killed, but weapons can still keep them at bay. For a time at least.”
Addy nodded. That was true, wasn’t it? It was usually the guardsmen that were caught outdoors when the storm hit, and those that lived through it told tales of desperate fights against an unseen enemy that lasted hours. But those that survived bore deep scars, some more than just physical.
Barry Wallance was one of those that lived to tell his tale, but the man had gone stark raving mad within days, and he somehow managed to skin himself entirely before he bled to death in a back alley. Addy shivered. Could that have been her? Would she have gone mad, or worse, if that skeg hadn’t—
A ghostly shape flew by, appearing to swim in a torrent of black smoke. Addy’s heart leaped into her throat, and she clamped her free hand against her mouth to keep from crying out. If her back hadn’t already been pressed against the hard-packed earth, she would have shrunk back farther still. Please don’t let them see us. Please!
Karine clutched at Addy’s shoulder, her voice desperate. “What is it, Addy? Do you see something?”
Papa had never believed that she could see those frightening things in the Blackstorm. He had told her it was just a trick of the light, her imagination. She had given up long ago telling him that he was wrong. Why could no one else see them? Why did she have to see them? “They’re here.” Her voice came out nearly a whimper. “I . . . I can see them.”
The woman’s face turned outward. “You can see them? I see nothing but a dark fog.”
Traizen suddenly flinched and cried out. The voice roared in Addy’s head. “She is heeeere! The bloooood! Her sweeeeet, sweeeeet bloooood.” Traizen growled and thrust his hammer outward, and the softly glowing specter that had materialized there seemed to dissolve and fade to nothing. But another appeared before Ryan, attacking with its long-nailed claws.
“Watch out, Ryan!” Addy shouted, but he could not see what she saw. The skeletal figure struck him on the side of the head, sending him reeling to the ground. Then it floated over him and into the hole, its eyeless sockets trained on her.
Addy’s chest seized. She fumbled with her dagger, but the ghostly figure closed in, reaching out. Cold enveloped her, sucking the breath from her lungs. This was it. Death had come.
Karine’s blade stabbed out, sending the visage exploding into a puff of iridescent smoke, but she could not see the damage she had done and kept jabbing long after it was gone. She made small desperate cries with each attack until Addy touched her arm. “It’s gone now, Karine! It’s gone!”
Kneeling, Ryan held the side of his head with his left hand, his right still holding his sword out in front of him. Lightning flashed, revealing a trail of blood running down the side of his face. Addy dug into her pouch and drew out a linen bandage before pressing it firmly to his head as Erabelle had taught them.
Ryan flinched and tried to pull away, but Addy took him by the vest. “Hold still.”
Ryan allowed Addy to hol
d the bandage to his head, but when his face was illuminated by the next flash of lightning, he wore an irritable frown. “How is it you can see them?” He repeated Karine’s unanswered question from before. “Is it because of—”
He broke off as Addy pressed the bandage tighter, drawing a pained gasp. The others couldn’t know just yet that she was a . . . witch. Odd, calling herself that, but what else could she be called? She had a magic in her—a Power as the old hag had said—even though she had about as much control over it as a newborn had over its limbs. She breathed a sigh eased the pressure on the bandage. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Another disembodied voice echoed suddenly in Addy’s mind, and she gasped. She opened her mouth to call out a warning, but Traizen was already swinging his hammer. He struck two ghostly skeletons, sending them back into the ether.
Addy let out a breath. “You got them, Traizen. You got them.” Then she paused. She had pulled Ryan back into the hole with her, her hand still pressing the bandage to his head. His back was warm against her chest.
Traizen grunted. “Princess, you keep doing that whenever you see one, and maybe we’ll get through this night alive.”
Addy smirked. Keep doing what? Gasping? Well, if that’s all it took for Traizen to keep them all safe, she could certainly do that!
Chapter 29
Addy woke with a start, the nightmares fleeing as she opened her eyes, only to be replaced with a living, waking nightmare. She was still in the Waste, and it was bitter cold. The dim light outside made it seem like early morning, but with a light rain falling from a clouded sky, it might have been later.
She was seated at the back of the hole against Ryan’s chest, his arms wrapped around her middle, giving her at least some measure of warmth. When had they ended up like that? Sometime after the voices had stopped calling to her from the storm. She had drifted off, feeling the heat of Ryan’s breath against her neck.
Traizen was still crouched at the mouth of the hole, his hammer resting on his knees. By the slump of his shoulders, he looked tired, but he didn’t waver, didn’t sway from that position. He had been strong and unrelenting during the night, keeping the storm at bay. How could she ever have thought he would run at the first sight of true danger? He was braver than she could ever be.
Karine, lying slouched against the earthen wall beside Addy and Ryan, took a deep breath and shifted slightly, but she too still slept. It was a wonder any of them had found sleep at all, with the Blackstorm raging just feet away, but exhaustion had overcome them the moment things calmed a little. Now there was just the dismal rain, turning all that gray dirt into a dense sludge. Slogging through that was going to be miserable.
Ryan’s voice called softly from over her shoulder. “How is it looking, Traizen?”
Traizen turned his face, revealing a red gash across his cheek. The blood had since dried, but several dark lines were drawn down past his jaw to the neck of his shirt. “It’s clear.” His voice sounded like gravel. “We should get moving as soon as possible, though. The rain could flood this crevice without warning.”
At the sound of Ryan’s voice, Karine woke and regarded them all through sleep-filled eyes. “Is it over?”
Addy gave her a small smile and nodded. “It is.” No more voices, thank the Spirelight!
They all rose and left the hole, knuckling stiff backs and shaking out their legs. Addy’s booted feet made slurping sounds in the mud as she stepped out into the crevice, and the steady rain quickly soaked her hair. An icy shiver ran through her.
The sky grumbled and flashed, and inky black clouds spun directly overhead, but there was still enough light coming from the east to confirm that it was early yet. Her stomach growled almost as loudly as the sky. She hadn’t eaten since midday the day before.
Digging into her belt pouch, she found a small piece of dried meat and began gnawing on it. It was like eating a salted boot, but it was what they had brought with them. To bring anything more palatable would have required they carry an impractical amount of weight. Papa’s pancakes sounded so good right then, topped with strawberries and cream. Suddenly the morsel in her mouth tasted even blander.
“How are we going to get back up?” Karine asked, her eyes trained upward to the ledge nearly fifteen feet above them. It was cold enough outside of the hole that her breath came in a light mist. “I don’t see any handholds or footholds.”
Running a hand through his dark, rain-slicked hair, Ryan frowned. “Maybe if we walk a ways, we’ll find a place to climb up or something to grab on to.” He shivered visibly. If the Blackstorm or canth didn’t kill them, there was always the cold.
Hugging themselves for warmth, they walked onward down the great crack in the ground, their soggy footsteps together sounding like pigs chewing. If she hadn’t been so miserable, that might have been amusing, but at the moment all her focus was on keeping her teeth from clacking together.
Traizen and Ryan walked ahead, talking about how they might escape the crevice and whether or not the canth were still out there. The two seemed almost friendly with each other when they weren’t at odds. Put a dangerous beast between them, and they became best of friends. Men were so strange.
Ryan cursed, pausing for a moment to pull his stuck boot from the thick mud. He looked tired, hair hanging heavy with rain, gray smudges dotting his face, and a spattering of dark blood where he’d been struck the night before. He was still handsome, though.
Karine shuddered beside Addy and rubbed her hands over her arms. “I can’t wait for this to be over.”
Addy nodded. “Me too.” Papa. Gevin. She shook herself. She had to stay focused. She had to be strong!
For a time the four slogged along in silence down the seemingly endless crevice, their boots lodging in the thick mud with every step. The path lead them ever southward, away from the Tower, but the high walls to either side were always at a height impossible to climb. Even if they hadn’t been so high, the slick walls would have caused them great difficulty.
Finally, Traizen came to a stop, his eyes tilting upward to regard a place where the wall had collapsed into a steep slope. He gestured to Ryan. “Stand on my shoulders. There are a few exposed roots near the top that you can use for hand-holds.”
Ryan climbed atop Traizen’s broad shoulders and wavered only a little as the larger man hoisted him upward. “Closer!” Ryan called, but Traizen was already as close to the sloping wall as he could get. Still, he inched forward, as if he would simply walk up that nearly vertical surface. “A little clo—”
Traizen’s foot slipped in the gray slime, and the two of them pitched forward, their faces striking into the oozing mud. Addy let out a breath that puffed out her cheeks, and Karine muttered a soft curse and slammed a fist into her thigh.
Ryan—covered head to toe in mud—wiped slime from his eyes and spat. “Hold still, you big ox!”
Traizen steadied himself and grabbed Ryan by the bottom of his feet. “Get ready!” Then he pressed upward, arms and shoulders bulging. His square jaws clenched, and his lips stretched into a grimace that showed nearly every tooth. Then he let out a loud cry, and Ryan inched upward.
“Almost there!” Ryan stretched his arms above him, reaching for the nearest root.
Addy clenched her hands together beneath her chin, her stomach twisting anxiously. “Just a little farther! Push, Traizen! Push!”
Traizen’s legs and arms quivered. The veins in his forehead stuck out prominently. Then suddenly his foot slipped, and he was coming down in a small avalanche of mud.
Addy gasped. “No!” But Ryan had not come down with him. His hand had found a thick root, and he clung to it. “Don’t let go, Ryan! Please, don’t let go!”
Ryan eyed the ledge a foot or so above his outstretched hand. Then he gave a desperate cry and pulled himself up, inching ever closer to freedom. Another root at the top allowed him to climb the final distance, where he rolled himself over the edge and lay there panting.
Addy breathed. �
�Thank the Spirelight!”
With Ryan leaning over the ledge, and Traizen helping from below, the four of them finally climbed their way out of the crevice. At the top, a biting wind cut across Addy’s exposed skin, setting her teeth chattering and her skin pebbling. Perhaps the crevice wasn’t so bad after all.
After doing their best to dislodge the mud from their clothing, the companions looked out over the wet plain. Addy sighed. They had come so far, and yet it seemed they still had a long way to go. Or perhaps it was just difficult to judge the distance when everything looked the same, gray and featureless.
Karine stood still, her eyes staring at the Tower. She looked on the verge of crying. Don’t lose it now, Karine. We’ve got a ways to go yet. They weren’t even halfway through their journey, there and home again, but worrying over it wouldn’t make it go any faster.
Without a word, Traizen began walking, his deep-set eyes focused, the handle of his hammer swaying back and forth over his shoulder. Ryan shared a look with Addy before he started after him. “I guess we’re off.” The smile he gave didn’t touch his eyes.
Sodden and covered in mud, the four of them made, once again, for the Tower. They had lost nearly a day fleeing the canth pack, sheltering from the storm, and trying to escape the crevice. On the up side, the rain had allowed them to refill their water skins from what cascaded down their clothing.
When Addy finally looked up, the rain had stopped, and the sky burned orange to the east. The wind whipped her damp hair, sending shivers coursing through her. The Tower, topped with the raging tempest, seemed a little closer, but still too far away. Her feet and legs protested with every step, and if she hadn’t been standing ankle-deep in mud, she might have sat down for just a few minutes.
Traizen stopped and took a deep breath. “We should stop here for the night.” His brows drew down over eyes held fast to the Tower. He looked very tired, perhaps more so than the rest of them, but his jaw was set. “Lord bless we can find tinder dry enough to start a fire, or we might wake frozen solid.”
