by C. Ellsworth
Downward they went, along the flowing stream and toward the pond. They came to a foot bridge, where they crossed without pause. And then the skeg were there, a crowd them, women and children who broke in to screams and wails at the sight of the four of them. The women ran with babes in their arms, while the older children clung tightly to their furred skirts, those who could keep up. Some of the children stood abandoned with tear-filled eyes.
There was a flash, light reflecting from a blade. Two skeg warriors, dressed in furred loincloths, appeared through the crowd and charged, their curved swords waving in circles above their heads. Addy pulled her daggers free, but Ryan was already leaping at one and Aeric at the other. Jess grabbed onto Addy, clutching her vest tightly. What was wrong with her? How could Addy fight with the woman clutching to her like one of those skeg children?
Addy pulled away from Jess’s clutch, but before she could free herself, both skeg assailants fell dead, one with a deep gash in his middle that exposed his innards, the other missing half his face. Addy’s stomach churned, but she couldn’t be sick right now. She had to remain strong, not only for herself but for Jess as well, apparently. The woman was acting like a frightened child.
With a blood-spattered face, Aeric turned to Jess, clearly agitated. “Where to now, girl? Speak up! How far is the way out?”
Jess released a trembling hand from Addy’s shoulder and pointed the way. “It’s not far. Just on the other side of the asterin—uh—water tower.”
Aeric gave the woman a suspicious glare, but he charged off once more, weaving them through the women and children, those brave enough—or foolish enough—to cross their path. Two more times they met with skeg fighters, who charged out of the darkness, screaming in their blood-rage, and both times Aeric and Ryan made quick work of them.
Aeric moved with magnificent grace. Addy had never seen him in a true fight, just in the brief demonstrations he gave at the barracks. Her skills were ridiculous compared to his! And even the skeg who challenged him looked like mere children playing with sticks. He dodged and swung and feigned in a deadly, mesmerizing dance. With him there, they were sure to escape!
Then Aeric was standing on the path amid a cluster of lifeless bodies, all with pale skin. No. One of those bodies was not pale. It was Brenly. Addy’s chest tightened. Aeric stooped to close the man’s sightless eyes, his jaw clenching furiously, but he said nothing. The Guard Captain simply stood and moved on.
Addy swallowed the lump in her throat and fell in behind Aeric and Ryan again. Suddenly, their escape seemed less certain. Brenly had given his life for her, and he would never know her thanks. How many of the others would die this day? Aeric? Ryan? If that had been Ryan back there instead of Brenly . . .
As they approached the water tower, the sounds of fighting abruptly died, leaving only a low rumble of angry shouts and the faint moans of the dying. Ulon and Caster were probably dead; they wouldn’t have allowed themselves to be taken alive. How long before Addy and the others were discovered now?
Aeric paused for a heartbeat, cocking an ear to the air. Then he was moving once more, his pace quickening even further. Addy had to run just to keep up. Jess was already breathing heavily, face looking fevered in the dim light, hands clutching at her stomach as if she was about to vomit. Months of inactivity had apparently left her unaccustomed to such physical strain. How long could she keep up? If she couldn’t, would they leave her behind? No, Addy would never do that. She would carry the woman herself if she had to!
They left the water tower behind, their path leading them along the edge of the cavern wall. Frequent shouts still rang out from the darkness, but they weren’t the shouts of battle. They were the shouts of the hunt. If Addy and the others were discovered, there was no way they would get out of this alive with so many standing in their way.
The yellow-orange light of flames came into view. A torch sat ensconced on the rocky wall beside an opening of what looked to be a tunnel. Finally, the way out!
But they could go no further.
Addy groaned. Seven skeg men, dressed in the black of the dolinatis, were there, heavily armed with curved swords. They stood, blocking the entrance to the tunnel, while peering intently into the darkness. If it wasn’t for the glow of the torch, they might have spotted the four of them already. Their night vision was ruined by the light, limiting what they could see to the extent of the flame’s glow.
“What do we do?” Addy’s voice was a whisper, her lungs on fire for all the running.
Aeric’s breath came heavy, but he didn’t answer. His brows were dipped low, his eyes narrowed. Had he not accounted for this possibility? Had he assumed the distraction that Ulon, Brenly, and Caster created would last longer? What were they going to do now?
There came a great roar from somewhere in the tunnel, a man’s challenging roar. Addy’s breath hitched. The skeg guards turned abruptly, but none had time to raise a sword before that man burst from the opening to barrel into the crowd, sending half of them flying. It was Traizen!
Ryan barked a laugh. “That’s Traizen! What the bloody . . . ?”
Aeric started forward. “Perfect timing, but with all that racket he’s making, the fool will draw every white-skinned savage right to us. Let’s move!”
By the time the four of them reached the skirmish, Traizen had already downed two skeg with his massive hammer, leaving two still facing him and the remaining three just scrambling again to their feet. “Face me, worms!” Traizen roared, eyes wide and looking more than a little crazed in the yellow torchlight. “I’ll crush your skulls to a pulp!”
Then Aeric was flowing through the skeg, his long sword ringing as it cut a path through void-black cloth and the pale flesh beneath. Two went down in that first breath, one shorter for having lost a head, the other falling to the ground, clutching at the spurting stump that was his leg. Ryan ran his blade through the second one to end his suffering.
Addy gripped the leather-wrapped handles of her daggers as she charged into the fray. The weapons felt good in her hands, like old friends. She swung desperately, but with deadly precision. Her target—small for a skeg warrior—met her with narrowed eyes showing through the gap in his dark headdress, but his swing was wild and clumsy, and Addy ducked easily under its path. Her answer was a jab to the neck that dropped the skeg to his knees, grasping at the red fountain that erupted there.
Then all the skeg were down, two moaning in their final moments, the rest lying unmoving in puddles of their own blood.
Traizen gave a boisterous laugh. “That’s four for me, Ryan! Did Aeric leave any for you?”
Aeric lunged for the laughing giant, moving like a canth. He grabbed Traizen by the front of his vest and jerked him close so that their eyes were just inches apart. Traizen was a big man, and well-muscled, but Aeric was every bit his height. And what the Guard Captain lacked in muscle, he made up for in presence.
“In moments,” Aeric hissed through clenched teeth, “we’re going to have the whole of this place bearing down on us because of all the racket you just made. So shut your mouth and—”
Someone called from the shadows. “Face me, you, who they call Aeric!” The voice, like rolling boulders, sent icy needles down Addy’s spine.
Kergen!
And there he was, striding up the path, both blades bloody and held casually before him. He was dressed from head to toe in his void-black dolinatis, his pale eyes catching the torchlight and reflecting it back in a heated glare. And behind him were dozens more, some clad in dolinatis as he was, and others in only their furred loincloths, as if they’d been awakened from slumber and had charged straight into battle without dressing. There were so many! Too many.
Aeric motioned for Addy to get behind him as he stepped toward the towering skeg, but Addy dug in her heels, eyes narrowing. She was not going to back down from this fight! She could help. It might be the only chance they had to escape.
Aeric glared back, baring his teeth in an angry sneer. It was
a look so intense that Addy stepped back. There would be no arguing with this man. She backed toward the tunnel with Jess in tow, and Ryan put himself between her and the skeg. Traizen simply stood, scowling at the approaching enemies, his massive, blood-spattered hammer held ready.
Aeric took a wide stance before the skeg and raised his two-handed sword in both hands. “Last we met, Kergen, chief of savages, our conversation was cut short. Let us finish it.” Then he turned his head slightly to speak over his shoulder. “Ryan, Traizen . . . get Addy to safety, and then get her to that rot-cursed Tower. Run!”
Kergen’s eyes narrowed at Addy. Her stomach clenched and chills needled her spine, but she couldn’t just run. She shook her head. “No, Aeric! We won’t leave you here. Ryan, tell him he’s being foo—”
Aeric shot her another glare. “Quiet, girl!” He shifted to keep himself between Addy and Kergen as the skeg took a cautious step forward. “This is a fight we can’t win, so let me give you as much time as I can.”
Addy’s heart siezed, and her throat tightened. There had to be another way! They couldn’t just leave him here alone!
Traizen took her gently but firmly by the arm and started to pull her into the tunnel. “Come, Princess. Time to go.” There was no mirth in his voice.
“No!” Addy jerked her arm free and took a step forward, eyes trained on the dozens of figures emerging from the darkness. She wasn’t going to back down this time. She wasn’t going to cower and flee while her friends died! The spark in her flared, and she let the Power flow. It flowed on a torrent of fury.
And the ground trembled.
There was a pause as everyone struggled to remain standing, and then the ground exploded. One moment, a skeg stood to Addy’s left, a sword in his hand, and in the next he was gone, obliterated by a column of up-shooting earth. She moved to the next in line, and he too vanished in a spray of gray and red. Then on to the next. She would stop every last one of them. She would kill them all!
Ryan shouted from behind. “No, Addy! Stop!” Another skeg vanished, screaming as his pieces were carried up and away. “The tunnel is collapsing!”
Addy turned to the next in line, and Kergen stared back. A growl rose in her throat, and the torrent inside her grew white hot. Then she let it go. She let it all go.
The ground exploded again, this time with five times the force, but Kergen dove at the last second, and the blast instead took three skeg who had been standing around him. Kergen hit the ground rolling, then dove again, another blast ripping apart the ground there. And each time he dove, he seemed to . . . blur for a moment, like he had done back at the barracks, becoming more like a thick cloud of insects than a man.
A desperate voice sounded in her ear, but Kergen had to pay. Kergen had to die! Three more times Addy broke the earth, and three more times Kergen dove away. If he would just stand still for a heartbeat!
Powerful arms gripped her, pinning her arms to her sides. No!
Traizen lifted Addy from the ground and shouted into her ear, “We have to go, Addy! The quake is going to bring the whole place down!”
Addy twisted in Traizen’s grip, but his arms were like steel bars bent around her. “Let me go, you stupid ox! Rot your Faeged hide, let me go! Let . . . me . . . go!” But Traizen carried her away, kicking and screaming, into the tunnel. Why wouldn’t he listen?
Then Aeric and the small army of skeg disappeared from view. Addy had killed only six or seven, among dozens. It wasn’t enough. And Kergen was still standing. It wasn’t enough!
Echoing up into the tunnel behind them came the single metallic clang of two blades colliding.
Chapter 33
The tunnel path, lit by the occasional mounted torch, curved sharply, sloping upward like a giant spiral staircase without steps. It was just wide enough for two people holding weapons to run side by side, as Ryan and Traizen were doing just up ahead. Traizen cast a single, considering glance back at Addy, and then turned back. He too knew her secret now; everyone within a dozen paces of her spectacle knew now.
Sounds of battle emanated from below. Aeric was in a fight for his life. If Addy had had just a few more minutes, she might have killed enough of them to give him a better chance. If she had had just a few more seconds, she might have killed Kergen! But what would have been their chances if her anger—her blind anger—had caused the tunnel to collapse, where the tunnel had been their only practical means of escape?
Their chances would have been none, and they would have died at the hands of the whole of the skeg clan. Oh, Addy could have killed more—a lot more—if the tunnel had collapsed, trapping them down there. But there were so many, and using the Power was a lot like swinging a dagger, she was learning, each stroke drawing strength. And Addy had swung with all her might at the chance to get Kergen. The effort had left her feeling a little drained.
How long would Aeric’s strength hold out?
The Guard Captain had told them once that a single man of average fighting skill could hold a narrow passage against any number of enemies for as long as his strength lasted. And Guard Captain Aeric was far from average. But at some point, his strength would fail, and the best end for him would be quick and painless. Quick and painless. Her stomach was twisted into knots.
There came a sudden, urgent tug on Addy’s hand. Jess was pointing up ahead. “We’re here. That’s the way out.”
Up ahead, flanked by two torches on the earthen walls, was an opening that led out into darkness. Addy could see the faint red hue of the Tower’s spire, the frequent flashes of lightning amid a torrent of swirling black clouds. They had made it. Now they just had to lose themselves in the night so their pursuers could not find them.
Addy made to step forward, but Jess’s hand slipped from her grip. What was the woman doing? “Come on, Jess.” But Jess stood rooted to the spot with a regretful look on her face. “Don’t be afraid. We’re almost free!”
“I . . . I can’t come with you, Addy” Jess’s eyes filled with tears.
Traizen and Ryan turned, looking rather impatient and quite ready to carry them both out if they didn’t move.
Addy fumbled for words. “What . . . why? You can’t stay here, Jess! These . . . people are savages! They hurt you! They’ll keep hurting you. Please, just come with me.”
From behind, Traizen heaved a sigh. “We need to leave, ladies. There’s probably an army coming for us by now.”
“He’s right.” Ryan’s voice was wary. “We have to hurry. Come with us, Jess. We’ll keep you safe.”
Tears rolled down Jess’s face. Her eyes held fast to Addy’s. “I’m not staying for myself, Addy.”
What? What did she—
The blood drained from Addy’s face. Oh, Lord of Light! Why hadn’t she puzzled it out before? The large furs, the puffy look to Jess’s face, the way she’d wrapped her arms around her middle. “You’re . . . pregnant?” Oh, Lord of the Light, Jess was carrying a child, a skeg child! Addy’s voice grew tight. “You’re staying for your baby.”
Nodding and feigning a small smile, Jess pressed her hands gently to her middle, and Addy could see now the slight swell of her belly beneath those thick furs. She had been so caught up in her own worries that she had failed to see what was right in front of her face. I’m such a fool!
Sniffing back tears, Jess pulled Addy into her arms and squeezed her tight. “The babies here, all of them, are healthy, Addy. They’re healthy and happy. The Faege hardly touches them! If I return home with you, who’s to say what will happen? I can’t risk that!”
“But the father is . . .”
“I know, but the baby is mine. And I will love her no matter what.”
Addy sniffed. “Her?”
Jess pulled away. “That is what Olgana tells me. And Olgana has never been wrong.”
The sounds of fighting were drawing closer. Had the battle moved into the tunnel? Traizen cleared his throat. “If you two ladies are done catching up now?”
Ryan gave her an urgent l
ook. “We have to go, Addy. Now.”
Addy pulled Jess into one last embrace. “I will miss you terribly, Jess!” Her voice barely made it past her throat. “Take care of yourself. And your baby!”
“I will, Addy.” Jess drew back and started away. “Now hurry, all of you! I’ll try to stall them for as long as I can.”
And just like that, Jess was gone around the bend.
Addy stared after her for a moment before she wiped the tears from her eyes. Jess would be safe for now, but Addy would come back someday. She would come back and kill every last skeg, if she had bring the whole town with her. She turned and started again toward the exit.
Ryan and Traizen were already outside, so Addy quickened her pace to catch up. The sounds of fighting had ceased below, which meant Aeric had lost the battle. Her heart ached, but there was nothing to be done except to go on, to complete the Affirmation. Aeric’s death would have meaning in the end. It would!
A strong tremor shook the ground as Addy emerged from the tunnel. The wind howled, the red sky churned, and rain soaked her clothes. She had stepped into a nightmare. She regained her balance and brushed the dark, wind-whipped hair from her face. Then she blinked. The men were standing just ahead with weapons still in hand, but they now held stances wide and ready. Ice prickled up her spine.
Then lightning flashed, and there were skeg. There were skeg everywhere, all around them, black shadows in their dolinatis, their curved blades bared.
Ryan shifted. “Do you think they can be reasoned with?” He had to shout to be heard above the wind. “Or are they too stupid to see that we’re the only ones who can stop the bloody world from bloody ending?”
Addy stepped to Ryan’s side and brought her daggers to hand. “I don’t think they want us to stop it.” Addy’s words were nearly lost in the howl of the storm. “To them, this is the will of the Lord. And we’re interfering.”
