The Lycan gave a sour grunt in reply.
Brey mouthed good luck to Kaira and Samir, and offered Nathaniel a less than convincing smile before the tunnel mouth swallowed her and Gabe whole. Vaera paused outside and looked at Nathaniel strangely. It wasn’t quite as hostile as he was used to from his fellow Regal but nor was it entirely friendly. If anything, it almost felt like an appraisal. As if this might be the last time they would see one another. Vaera sniffed once and then she too was gone.
‘Right,’ Nathaniel slapped his hands against his thighs and peered uncertainly into the second tunnel. He thought he could hear a faint dripping noise coming from within, which he quickly convinced himself was just more water.
What if there are more of those whispering shadows inside?
Nathaniel buried that unpleasant thought before it got the chance to fester inside his stomach. Gripping the torch tightly, Nathaniel strode forward, as confidently as he could manage, into the tunnel’s frighteningly dark maw.
Chapter 36
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Illumina was not sure how much longer she could last. Her body was screaming for release, be it by blade or slip of the tongue. She had thus far managed to avoid revealing the location of the Lycan hideout, but she could not say for how much longer she’d be able to hold out.
A moan escaped Illumina’s lips at the scarred man who entered her chamber. Her brother had a grim, determined look to his face, which usually meant bad news for her.
She hung her head and concentrated on clouding the amber-rimmed grey eyes that hung, tantalisingly, before Illumina in her mind. She had to protect Nathaniel… and Thorne, even if the fool didn’t think he needed her.
‘Oh, sister,’ Kusk sighed. ‘Look at you.’
Illumina spat onto the floor in response. Even that trifling effort seemed to take a lot out of her.
‘Look… upon your work, Emperor,’ Illumina wheezed.
Kusk glanced back outside of the chamber. Two Royal Guards, draped in black and gold, marched inside, having to tip their lances as they crossed the threshold. The ice had returned to Kusk’s blue eyes by the time he had turned back.
‘Clean up her wounds and get her something to wear,’ Kusk instructed the guards. ‘There’s something I want my sister to see.’
Chapter 37
The path was a little less claustrophobic than the last, though just as unsettling to walk through. The dark seemed to almost overwhelm their solitary torch, encasing its light in a narrow circle around their feet.
Nathaniel couldn’t help thinking about Gabe and the two girls he’d sent in the other tunnel, hoping he’d not further endangered their lives by separating. He kept reminding himself of the mission, of what Zaine might say were he with them now, bearing down upon the darkness with his stone-faced assuredness.
The Hunter couldn’t be gone, he just couldn’t. Hadn’t Pegs mentioned that some of his kin had made it back home from Dün Moine’s mine?
But they were mad, Nathaniel remembered with a shiver.
‘Nathaniel,’ Kaira said tentatively. ‘What are we going to do when we reach Obsidia? Didn’t the Dwarf mention that these mines will only take us as far as the mountains? How are we going to get past Obsidia’s walls?’
It was a genuine question. Also one Nathaniel hadn’t really given as much thought to as he probably should have.
‘How does a Regal return home?’ Samir chipped in curiously. ‘Can one only seek safe passage, if they bring with them a bounty? Must you prove your valour against the gate’s guards in a battle to first blood? Solve a riddle?’
‘Um… we usually just gain entrance through the gates,’ Nathaniel replied.
‘Oh,’ said Samir, looking perplexed.
Nathaniel gripped the hilt of the sword Zaine had gifted him. Truth be told, if any of the Regal guards spotted him outside Obsidia’s white walls, it would be impossible to avoid a conflict.
Nathaniel stopped suddenly in his tracks.
‘Nathaniel… are you okay?’ Kaira asked.
‘I… It’s nothing.’
They continued on for a moment before Nathaniel whipped round, peering down the back of the tunnel.
He thought he’d felt something… a familiar twinge.
‘Nathaniel?’ Samir said.
Nathaniel turned back the right way and quickened his pace.
The further they went the more prominent that exalted feeling became. Nathaniel felt a smile touch his lips as he remembered that time in Sanctuary’s library, the tingling sensation at his fingertips.
‘Nathaniel, what’s going on?’ Kaira said worriedly.
‘Here,’ Nathaniel replied.
The torchlight revealed another break with the tunnel splitting into two diverging paths.
‘Not again,’ Samir murmured.
Nathaniel led them through the path to the right, into what appeared to be another cavern, though slightly smaller than the first they’d encountered.
‘This is a dead end,’ Kaira noted. ‘We should head back the other way.’
Nathaniel held up a hand, ‘just a moment. I can feel… something.’
Samir looked about the cavern nervously. ‘We shouldn’t stay here. What if–’
THUNK
‘What was that?’ Nathaniel spun round to find Samir crouched over something by his feet. The Scorched boy was peeling away clumps of earth from a bump jutting out of the ground. Something glinted under the torchlight, after Samir removed another layer of dirt. It looked metallic and, unless Nathaniel’s eyes were deceiving him, golden. Samir dipped his hands into the ground either side of the object and, with an almighty tug, managed to wrench the thing free of the earth. A square helmet, with a hilt-shaped slit for the eyes and nose, looked back at Nathaniel.
This was it. This was the object that had been touched by Majik.
‘What is it?’ Samir’s brows knitted together as he twisted the golden helmet about in his hands.
‘Is that what I think it is?’ Kaira gasped.
‘That’s a Kingsguard’s helmet,’ Nathaniel said, looking on in awe.
Just standing near the helmet gave Nathaniel such a warm feeling inside. It was incredible how, after all these years, it still retained even a trace of Majik. Yet it was unmistakably there. Nathaniel could feel it.
‘Let’s take it with us,’ Nathaniel said.
He only took one step back towards the tunnel, before recoiling suddenly away from the approaching shadows. The whispering shadows had found them.
‘Sun above!’ Samir gasped, almost tripping over himself as he stumbled back.
The shadows spilled into the cavern, spreading around its walls and over its jagged ceiling. Within seconds they would be completely and utterly surrounded.
Nathaniel hurriedly fumbled about his bag and drew out the inscribed rod. We’re in a lot of trouble! Nathaniel tried to focus his frantic thoughts at the rod. It remained cold in his hands.
You stopped the assassins! Help us now! PLEASE! The rod’s runes ran green with life and Nathaniel heard a yawn.
‘You Greys have a knack for getting into trouble,’ the rod spoke in his mind.
The shadows were beginning to sink down the walls towards them. We’re going to die!
The rod sighed.
‘Open the door, Nathaniel Grey. Open it and I will do what I can.’
Nathaniel shut his eyes and tried to drown out the cries of his companions. He pictured himself running to the brass-knobbed door, the shadows at his heels. He tugged and tugged on the handle, but the door refused to open for him.
‘…three shall rise… three shall rise…’
Like a plague, the shadows began to infest the corners of his mind, draining his will, and swamping his dreams. Nathaniel hammered his hands against the door and screamed.
YOU PROMISED!
The shadows closed in.
Chapter 38
Black and gold carpets blurred by Illumina’s eyes. The toes of her now slippe
red feet trailed over the carpet. Illumina almost fooled herself into thinking she was floating. At least, that was until she looked down at the gauntleted hands either side of her, keeping her upright.
Black and gold… So, she was still in the Emperor’s Palace. But where was her brother taking her?
Illumina felt her chin slide down to her chest, as if drawn suddenly by a great weight, and drifted off into darkness. Someone was patting her gently on the cheek a moment later, rousing her from slumber.
‘Come now, Sister. You won’t want to miss this.’
Illumina peeled her eyes open slowly, amidst the glare of the rising sun. Kusk stood beside her, a thin smile crossing his scarred face. He extended a finger beyond the brazier-lined balcony that overlooked the entire city of Obsidia. One by one, Regals began to spill out from white brick houses, below the mountain. Peddlers tugged their wares in carts along the paved stone path, which split the city in two, hurrying to get to the prime spots. Children skipped to the gardens lining the concentric circles of the markets, their laughter carrying even as far up to the mountain as where Illumina stood.
‘What… am I supposed… to be seeing exactly?’ Illumina muttered.
‘Look closer at the markets, Sister.’
The markets were largely bare at this time of the day, save for some of the more eager peddlers, who had already set up their stalls, in anticipation of early customers.
‘Closer,’ Kusk whispered in her ear.
A platoon of Royal Guardsmen, distinguishable by their black and gold armour, marched two apiece behind the Guard Captain. His black cloak billowing about in the wind.
‘Intimidating our people with the Armada… brother?’ Illumina said accusingly.
‘You’re not looking at who the guards are escorting,’ Kusk replied.
A cold dread filled Illumina’s stomach. She knew with absolute certainty then that she didn’t want to look. But Illumina did anyway.
The Royal Guard escort was too far away to make out individual faces. Though, with horror, she could just about spot the shock of blood red hair amidst the sea of black helmets.
Chapter 39
As if struck suddenly with a battering ram, the door burst open, swatting Nathaniel to the ground. Nathaniel reached up and basked in the warmth of the Majik flowing through his veins. The power to split the Southern Seas and break the Black Mountains danced gloriously across his fingertips.
Surrounded by the coiling flames that had sprung up around the cavern, the whispers ceased, and the shadows shrieked.
*
The Majik had fled Nathaniel’s body just as quickly, leaving him fatigued on the cavern floor. That is, until Samir had thrown him over one of his broad shoulders. Nathaniel didn’t have the energy in him to object. Kaira spurring them on, they left the horrible grating cries of the whispering shadows behind and set off back down the tunnel.
‘How did you do that?’ Nathaniel heard Kaira ask him.
‘Mmf,’ Nathaniel mumbled into Samir’s back. Truth be told – he wasn’t sure either. The door had refused him entry then changed its mind a second later. Perhaps the rod had helped them after all.
‘You’re welcome.’
And about time, Nathaniel thought. Those shadows were getting awfully close. What did you do?
‘I… did very little,’ the rod admitted, sounding a little abashed.
Wait… so that had been all him? No wonder he could barely stand. The warning from the book he found in the Lycan library came back to him.
To use Majik, even when chained, is to wrestle a mountain. Unchained… the mountain would collapse upon you.
Nathaniel wondered how much more Majik he could get away with, until this warning came true. His Grandfather would probably be furious, were he ever to find out about what happened in the cavern. But it wasn’t like Nathaniel had any choice.
‘Is that… light?’ Samir said.
‘What? What is it?’ Nathaniel said, struggling and failing to peek over the Scorched boy’s shoulder.
‘The end of the tunnel!’ Kaira exclaimed, ‘we’ve made it!’
Nathaniel breathed a sigh of relief at the daylight streaking down by Samir’s feet.
‘HALT!’
Nathaniel felt Samir’s shoulders tense under his stomach.
‘Drop the Kinslayer, boy!’ a voice edged with authority ordered Samir.
‘He can barely stand,’ the Scorched boy replied, moving a hand to keep Nathaniel firmly stapled to his shoulder.
‘It’s alright, Samir,’ Nathaniel patted the boy’s back. ‘I can manage… I think.’
Samir sighed but relented, gently lifting Nathaniel off his shoulder and onto the ground. Nathaniel stumbled slightly, before the Scorched boy caught him.
A platoon of Royal Guardsmen surrounded them, swords extended towards Nathaniel and his party in a half circle of steel. The Guard Captain, looking extremely pleased with himself, paced across his men. One hand on his helmet, which he held clutched to his side, and the other atop the pommel of his sword. A waterfall of black hair gushed down the Regal’s breastplate.
Gabe, a still hooded Vaera, and Brey stood nearby behind their dropped bags and weapons. Nathaniel was glad to see them.
‘Right on time, ginge,’ Gabe said sarcastically.
‘Shut up, Lycan,’ the Guard Captain roared.
‘Captain…’ Nathaniel croaked.
‘What’s wrong with you, Kinslayer,’ the Guard Captain rounded on Nathaniel. ‘Is the guilt weighing you down?’
‘Captain… we need to see the Elders…’ Nathaniel said.
The Guard Captain withdrew a long, thin blade – the length of which would have put Zaine’s to shame – from his scabbard. He ran a gauntleted finger down the blade’s edge then narrowed his chestnut eyes at Nathaniel.
‘My Lord Emperor gave me instruction to bring you to him… alive,’ the Guard Captain said regretfully. He stabbed the sword into the mud and advanced towards Nathaniel. ‘But he said nothing about the condition I might bring you in.’
Vaera swooped in and stood between Nathaniel and the Captain. ‘You will do no such thing. Stand down, Aviendel,’ she commanded him.
Captain Aviendel threw back his head and let out a barking laugh. ‘Who are you, girl, to stand in my way?’
The Regal raised a hand, as if to bat Vaera aside. Then she pulled down her hood.
Aviendel’s face warped into a mask of horror, the Regal recoiling so suddenly he almost slipped on the mud. The Captain shot down to one knee almost as fast as his guardsmen, bending his head down to Vaera.
‘Princess Illiara!’ he cried. ‘I didn’t–’
What? Nathaniel thought.
‘What in the blazes…’ Gabe’s brow furrowed.
Samir and Brey shared a confused look.
Kaira had a rare grin plastered across her face. Nathaniel could almost hear the Féynian chuckling.
‘Are you generally this insufferable to my people, Captain?’ Vaera inquired. Her voice had taken a certain proud loftiness and the Regal seemed to stand a foot taller.
‘My Princess, I–’
‘Do you know penalty for striking your Empress-In-Waiting?’ She took a step closer to the Captain.
‘I–’
‘I can assure you, Aviendel, you would have far more to fear than the loss of your Captaincy.’
Captain Aviendel winced at that.
‘Forgive me, Princess… but the Kinslayer–’
‘At this moment in time, Aviendel, my authority supersedes that of Kusk. You will escort us immediately to the Elders. I am sure the Szar will find the time to join us.’
Chapter 40
Princess Illiara.
The Empress-In-Waiting.
Nathaniel was struggling to wrap his head around it. How had he not figured it out sooner?
He watched her ahead with Captain Aviendel, as they wound their way up the paved road spiralling up the mountain to the Emperor’s Palace, leading rather than fol
lowing. The girl who had once hidden herself in the shadows of her cloak embraced the morning sun, as if she were its equal. The Regal guardsmen who escorted them kept glancing in her direction, perhaps contemplating whether to hold up the cape trailing behind her like the train of a queenly dress.
No wonder Vaera – no, Illiara – had tracked him down to Dalmarra. She thought he’d murdered her father; she probably still did. Yet, she had spared him from the Szar’s clutches, if only temporarily.
The Hall of the Elders was guarded by two white-armoured Regals, with gold lances and closed visor helmets. They crossed their lances as Captain Aviendel approached, denying entry past the heavy iron doors between them. Aviendel glanced nervously back at Illiara, before clearing his throat.
‘Captain Aviendel of the Emperor’s Royal Guard, escorting the Empress-In-Waiting, Princess Illiara Tolken; the accused Kinslayer, Nathaniel Grey; and his… companions.’
The lances hung over the door momentarily, then the white guardsmen cracked their lances against the marble floor. Spinning on the spot, they turned to lead the group through the in-swinging doors.
Sunlight streamed inside the Hall through its glass, domed ceiling. Hexagonal patterns of light striking the cream floor. Their footsteps echoed sharply, as they strode across the seemingly endless length of marble towards the Elders.
Chalk white thrones, simple in their design, seated the three Elders at the end of the Hall. Their seats were so high up that they had to be accessed by three sets of steps.
The Elder in the middle looked very old. Long, white, somewhat bedraggled, locks plumed beyond the shoulders of his grey robes. He sported a magnificent beard of the same snowy white that fell between his legs. He was also fast asleep and snoring loudly.
The Elder to his right was his opposite. Bald and clean shaven, the man scowled contemptuously as they neared the steps.
The third Elder, bearing a nest of wild, dark hair and a mischievous grin, leant over to the bearded Elder and gave him a nudge. The middle Elder gave such a loud snort that it made Nathaniel jump.
‘Eh? What?’ the Elder shot up in his seat, twisting his head to-and-fro as if searching for a pestering fly.
Nathaniel Grey and the Obsidian Crown Page 24
