Fall of Ashes (Spirelight Trilogy Book 1)
Page 25
Ryan sighed. “If we wake at all.” His eyes found Addy’s and softened. Then he turned away in search of something that might take a flame.
Addy watched him go, teeth chattering. Perhaps she might find warmth in his arms again tonight.
Karine was standing, hands on hips, frowning at the mud around her. There wasn’t a dry spot to lie down, which meant there would be no sleep tonight. Her honey-colored hair was pasted to her scalp, and her eyes stared somewhat blankly, as if fatigue had drained her of all senses but the ones keeping her on her feet. But even those senses looked to be wavering.
When enough wood had been gathered—wood that was only damp as opposed to completely soaked—and the fire danced halfheartedly amid the erected steeple of twigs, the four of them huddled close as the wind whipped through them like icy needles. With the storm raging overhead and blotting out most of the sky, the evening sun seemed to flee too quickly, and darkness now crept in around them. Even the red Spirelight from the Tower seemed subdued, casting only the faintest of glows through the haze of the storm.
Traizen and Ryan sat with their palms outstretched toward the flames while they discussed plans for the next day. Karine looked absolutely miserable on her seat in the mud, her full lips quivering and her teeth chattering. She was probably dreaming of high canopied beds and fireplaces as large as Addy’s bedroom.
Addy held out her hands to the pitiful fire and wiggled the stiffness from her fingers. If she moved any closer to the flames, her face and hands might catch fire, and yet her back was ice cold. Perhaps they could erect some kind of rotating spit to keep her warm on all sides. Abruptly, her mouth watered. Roast pig, dripping with juices . . .
It was perhaps an hour later before the struggling fire could dry Addy’s clothes enough to slow her shivering. What a miserable night! With the rain gone, would the canth close in again? Another shudder ran through her.
Karine was hugging herself and shifting as she peered out into the darkness. She was probably worried about the canth as well. She turned to Addy. “We should probably gather more wood. Before we settle down. Care to come with me? I don’t want to go alone in the dark.”
Addy glanced at the stack of wood that they had already gathered. It should last them the night, but it couldn’t hurt to have more. She gave a nod and stood.
Karine led her into the shadows of the night. At first, the way before them was completely black beyond the range of the fire, but after a few moments Addy’s eyes adjusted. The Tower light—what little managed to make it through the torrent of clouds—now bathed the way in an eerie, red glow.
Karine said nothing as they walked. Minutes passed. Was she upset about something? Then she stopped, her face looking troubled in the faint, red light. They were far enough from the fire now that it was a mere spec in the distance. Addy scanned the ground as best she could in the dark, but there was no wood here, none useable anyway.
Karine turned her back to Addy, her head bent low. “I didn’t like you much at first.” Her voice sounded regretful. “The few times I saw you in town as we were growing up, I thought of you as . . . boyish and unrefined. Not a proper young lady. And you were always with that . . . awkward boy.”
Addy’s cheeks heated. Where was this coming from? Boyish? Unrefined? True, traipsing off with Eddis to go fishing at the pond wasn’t something a girl should be doing, if she was raised proper. But she had never really fit in among the giggling, nattering, and gossiping girls either. Perhaps the problem was that Mama had died when she was only six, leaving Papa to raise her. And as good a papa as Papa was, he couldn’t possibly teach her everything a mama could. So what could she say, that Karine was right, that Addy was simple and clumsy? Better to say nothing at all.
Karine folded her arms. “But . . . I’ve gotten to know you quite well over the past months.” Her voice trembled. “I see you differently now.”
Oh! Addy’s throat tightened. She reached to take Karine’s hand, but Karine took a step back. Addy frowned. What was going on?
Karine’s mouth tightened. She was looking everywhere but at Addy, hands wringing before her. With a heavy sigh and a visible effort, she finally looked Addy in the eyes. “I consider you a friend now, Addy. A true friend. Which is why . . .” Her words trailed off. Then she continued in a whisper. “Which is why this is so hard.”
Addy’s frown deepened. “I . . . I don’t understand, Karine. What’s wrong?”
Shadows moved suddenly around them, seeming to materialize out of nowhere. The canth? They must have found them! “Karine!” she shrieked, but Karine only stared at her. Addy reached for the daggers at her belt, but something grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. “Run, Karine!”
Karine did not run. Was she frozen with fear? She looked mostly calm, if a little shaken. Why wasn’t she running? Beside Karine, a shadow coalesced into the figure of a towering man clothed in a voluminous black garb that hid all but a narrow opening across the eyes.
Addy’s heart seized. Skeg! What was happening? Why was Karine just standing there? Spirelight, woman, run! The words leapt from her thoughts to her throat, but a gloved hand cut off any chance of speaking them as it clamped around her mouth. She kicked. She twisted. She even bit at the fingers, but that grip was like iron.
The dark-clad man came to stand before Addy, regarding her through pale, penetrating eyes. “This time you have no help from friends.” Addy’s heart sank to her toes. That voice! She would never, ever, forget it. It was Kergen. The pale scar between those icy orbs was plainly visible now, even in the pale, red light of the Tower.
Karine appeared at his side, still wringing her hands. She looked at Addy with brows furrowed. “I’m sorry, Addy. I had no choice.”
Addy nearly choked. No choice? What was happening?
Karine swallowed and licked her lips. “Despite appearances to the contrary, Addy, I just want to make my father proud. I want to make him happy. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Head swimming, Addy stared at Karine. This wasn’t happening! Karine had to know what would happen if Addy didn’t get to the Tower in time. She had to know!
Karine turned to look up at Kergen. “I did as my father promised you.” Her voice was shaking. “She’s yours now. Can I tell him we’ve met our part of the bargain? Can I tell him you won’t go through with the attack on the town?”
Addy let out a soft, muffled cry. A bargain? If Addy didn’t get to the Tower, it could very well mean the end of everything. She had to get free! She twisted once again, screaming into her captor’s hand, but that grip never loosened in the slightest. Why was Karine doing this? It couldn’t be just to earn her papa’s approval.
Addy’s heart clenched. What had the mayor said in the carriage? Could it be that the Tower was actually meant to cleanse the Faege? Had he finally taken steps to make sure no one performed the ritual this time? Is that why Karine was handing her over to the skeg? No, Karine! Please, don’t do this!
Kergen regarded Addy for a moment longer before turning to Karine. “Yes, bargain is done.” His rumbling voice was thick with accent. “And I have message for your patra, your . . . papa.”
There was a sudden fluttering of Kergen’s garb, a glint of red light off metal, and then the skeg plunged a dagger into Karine’s middle. She gave a loud grunt, eyes bulging, and pain twisting her delicate features. Her lips moved to form words that would not come.
Addy’s head spun. No! This wasn’t happening! Tears welled in her eyes.
Karine choked, her face quickly paling. Her gaze, desperate and panicked, locked on Addy. Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she slumped to the ground, silent.
Kergen removed a black glove from his hand and bent to press his fingers to Karine’s throat. Then he placed the point of the blade to her chest and thrust the dagger into her heart.
The world spun. Addy’s legs slackened. She fell limp in her captor’s grip. Karine’s sightless eyes stared at her.
After wip
ing his blade clean on Karine’s vest, Kergen tucked his dagger into his robes. Then he slid his hand back into his glove and looked back toward their camp. Sounds of metal rang out, along with an occasional cry. Hopefully that was Traizen and Ryan fighting off the skeg. How long could they hold out? Would they get to her in time?
Kergen turned back to Addy, his eyes staring intently through the slit in his garb. “Your friends fight well, but they will be dead soon.” He stepped close and eyed her from top to bottom. “You should forget them. Sorrow is weakness, and I like my women strong.” Then he turned in a flutter of shadowy cloth and barked a series of orders in that nonsensical tongue.
Shadows moved all about like a swarming cloud, and then Addy was carried off into the night.
Chapter 30
“Adele . . .”
The call came urgently through the jumble of indeterminate noises echoing in Addy’s head. The skeg . . . what had they done to her? They had carried her away while she kicked and screamed desperately, and then someone had pressed a cloth to her face. Then darkness. The odd, pungent smell still lingered in her nostrils.
Karine! Addy’s heart clenched. How could she have done that? She had betrayed her! She had betrayed them all! And Ryan and Traizen? Were they still alive?
“Adele, listen! There isn’t much time.”
That voice . . . “Mama?” The words sounded strangely distant in her ears. She opened her eyes just a crack; any more than that sent sharp needles jabbing into her temples. The figure before her was a blur, but it bore a vague resemblance to the woman from her dreams, same blue dress and all. “Is this a dream?”
The figure reached out a hand toward her and then stopped. It seemed to shimmer and then fade a little. “My time is short, sweetheart. Please, listen carefully. The end of this Cycle is dangerously close. You must get to the Tower soon, or all will be lost forever!”
Addy raised her head. She was lying down, and her arms and legs moved as if through molasses. “Where are you, Mama? How can I find you?”
“Go to the Tower, Adele. Go quickly!”
Something small struck Addy between the eyes. A pebble perhaps. She blinked, and the figure before her was gone. Mama?
Children were giggling now, the sound echoing. Addy took a deep breath and blinked again, her vision coming into focus. The floor beneath her was hard-packed earth and cold, and her limbs still moved as if she were half asleep.
Small faces of a young girl and boy grinned through dark metal bars. Both were dressed in a mismatch of animal furs, their heads topped with dark, tousled hair, and their skin the color of caramel. Their eyes, however, were pale ice.
That boy . . .
Of course! She hadn’t noticed the color of his eyes before, but it was the same boy. She was certain! “You!” Addy shook her head, trying to clear the fog. “You led me into Old Town!”
The boy raised a hand, revealing a small pebble, but before Addy could react, he tossed it at her, striking her on the cheek. “Stop that!” she growled. “What are you doing here? Where are your parents?” Her words brought more giggles, followed by an odd chattering. What were they saying? Of course! Their language, their eyes. They were skeg!
Few had ever seen a skeg child before, but the older ones had to come from somewhere, didn’t they? Tales said they sprouted from the soil of the Waste, fully grown and thirsty for blood, but that was ridiculous. But these children had darker skin like Addy’s, when every other skeg she’d ever heard of or seen was pale as snow. How was that possible?
The two stood watching her curiously, as if she was some kind of critter. Addy sat upright, her head still swimming. She was in a cage of dark metal about two paces square, with a barred ceiling too low for standing. Her breath caught. Before her lay a cavern so vast that it could have held the whole of the town and more.
Hundreds of feet above and to her left was an opening in the rocky ceiling, through which a pale, red light shone through a churning sky. Water flowed from the opening in a dozen falls, each cascading down into a pond below, and flowing from the pond was a stream that cut the cavern down the middle.
Amid the sound of the babbling stream, and the soft roar of the falls, came other sounds of activity, much like what she had heard in town. There was the constant murmur of voices; the clang of metal, possibly from a smithy; and the high-pitched squeals and laughter from children. So many children.
A third pebble streaked past and narrowly missed her eye. Addy’s young audience was certainly persistent! She opened her mouth to speak again, when a fur-clad woman arrived and sent the two scurrying off with her harsh skeg words. She was heavily clothed, her skin—
Addy nearly choked. “Jessa!” The woman came to kneel before the bars. It was Jess! How could that be? Was she still dreaming? “I . . . I can’t believe . . . How . . . ?”
Jess looked at her with a mix of emotions—pity, sadness, and elation—all at the same time. She seemed in good health, if a bit pale, and she was well-fed. Her auburn hair, once down past her shoulders, was now cut short, very short. Her slightly-tilted eyes regarded Addy fondly. “It’s good to see you, Addy. I wish it was under better circumstances.”
Better circumstances? Addy was in a cage, for Tower’s sake! But Jess was here, and so there was hope for escape. “It’s so good to see you, Jess! You look well.”
Jess’s thin lips bent into an uncomfortable smile. “How . . . how is my mama? She must have been very upset . . . when I didn’t return.”
Addy thrust her arm through the bars and took Jess’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “Yes, Jess, she was very upset. She’s still mourning, in fact.” Her voice turned quickly from somber to hopeful. “But once she knows you’re all right—”
“No.” Jess slid her hand free. Her brows drew down over pained eyes. “She can’t know.”
Addy blinked. “Why? She misses you terribly! Get me out of here, and we’ll go back. Then everything will be all right!”
Jess stared, the conflict plainly visible on her face, a face that looked somehow far older than her eighteen years.
Two other pale figures appeared on the path leading up to the cage. An elderly woman hobbled forward, carrying a gnarled cane. She was dressed in furs that showed far too much wrinkled skin, and behind her was a lean, muscled man who looked to be in his twenties. The man wore only a furred loincloth.
Both were clearly skeg, with pale eyes and white skin, and on the left side of the woman’s head was a single topknot of white hair. The man was bald, with a small point of a white beard adorning his narrow, feminine face.
The woman’s gaze narrowed on Jess, and she raised her cane to strike. Addy opened her mouth to shout a warning, but Jess turned, and the cane struck her shoulder. With a cry, Jess shrunk back, arms upraised defensively. The old woman spat words in her skeg tongue and raised her cane as if to strike again.
A fire erupted in Addy’s middle. “Stop!” Her heart raced. Out of the corner of her eye, Jess shook her head, looking suddenly worried. Why wasn’t she running?
The old woman turned one glaring eye on Addy, the other being clouded and likely blind. She thrust her cane abruptly through the bars and jabbed Addy in the stomach. The words that left her wrinkled lips were undecipherable, but the tone said they were a harsh warning. Addy frowned. Stick that cane in here one more time and I’ll . . .
Jess turned, shooting Addy a quick, apologetic glance. “We’ll talk later, Addy.” Then she hurried away. There were so many questions. What had happened to her at the Tower? How did she end up in this place? Why wasn’t she in a cage like Addy, and why hadn’t she escaped? Hopefully there would be time for answers soon. Mama had said time was short.
The old woman turned from the fleeing Jess and narrowed her pale gaze on Addy. The man behind her folded his arms across his muscled chest and grinned. He pointed at Addy and muttered something to the old woman that curled the corner of her wrinkled mouth into a smirk. Addy’s stomach sunk. What did they want with her?
Addy shrunk back, but the space was small, and she had nowhere to go. She reached for a dagger, but they were gone. They must have taken them. She balled her hand into a fist and swung, striking the man square in the face.
The pale man blinked a couple of times and wrinkled his nose. And that was it. He didn’t even stagger back. He gave a cruel chuckle and came on with even more determination, this time managing to grab, first, a flailing leg and then an arm. Then he dragged her unceremoniously through the door.
“Filthy, rot-infested worm!” Addy growled when she came to rest at the skegs’ feet. “Give me a blade, and I’ll split you in three!”
The man simply chuckled. Did they even understand what she was saying? She needed a weapon! A stick, a rock, anything! She cast a quick look around, but there was nothing within reach. Then the skeg hauled her to her feet and held tightly to her arm, despite all her struggles. There was no getting free. Where would she go if she could escape? Which way was out? And where were Ryan and Traizen? Did they still live? Did they know she was here? With a sigh, she stopped trying to wrench her arm free. She would need a plan before trying again to get free.
The muscled skeg soon relaxed, but his pale gaze remained narrowed. Then he gave Addy a shove to set her walking. The path she was forced down followed the stream, where more children played and women washed. Some of those women were bared to the waist.
Small shrubs and plants covered the ground all around in a carpet of deep green. And those trees! She gaped. They were straight and lively, unlike those in the woods near town, and especially those in the Twisted Lands. How could they be so healthy out here in the Waste, if that’s where she still was? And how could they grow at all with so little sunlight?