“No, she didn’t,” Alexander said. “She’s the silver dragon who stopped the green dragon from finishing you off.”
Riggs frowned skeptically. “I didn’t see that happen, what with so much going on at the time, but I did wonder where that fiery beast went all of a sudden.”
“I saw her, Captain,” a deckhand said, “bright and silver, shining in the sun she was, just before she crashed into that terrible green dragon and drove it under the waves. They was both gone after that.”
“Care for her,” Alexander said.
“What about the princess?” Wyatt asked.
“Follow at a safe distance,” Alexander said. “I’ll scout the enemy ships and determine if you have any chance against them.”
“Where are they headed?” Captain Riggs asked.
“Karth.”
Chapter 24
Isabel stopped pacing and listened. She thought she heard the sounds of battle, muffled by stone and distance. Then she heard footsteps coming toward her cell door. As the footsteps grew near, the secret passage opened behind her.
Ayela peered through from the shadows.
“We have to go, right now,” she said, motioning for Isabel to hurry.
She hoisted her pack and headed for the passage without a word. Though they’d removed all of her weapons, she’d been permitted to keep the rest of her belongings and she was glad for that. Simple things like a bedroll and a cloak might make all the difference on the run in the jungle.
She slipped into the passage, and Ayela quickly closed the hidden panel just before the soldiers reached the cell door. Isabel and Ayela froze, barely daring to breathe when Trajan and one of the Sin’Rath entered—he had a sword in hand and she was sniffing about suspiciously.
“I don’t understand, where could she have gone?” Trajan asked.
The witch began casting a spell. Isabel drank the potion Ayela had given her, the one that would nullify the effects of the malaise weed she’d been forced to consume every day since Trajan had captured her.
The witch released her spell, a cloud of darkness forming before her, then taking the shape of a disembodied dog’s head, it began sniffing around the edge of the room.
“Your sister has betrayed you,” the witch said in a raspy voice. “But we will find her.”
Isabel motioned for Ayela to lead the way down the hidden passage. It was narrow, only four feet wide and barely six feet tall. Roots hung from the ceiling at uneven intervals, dripping with cold water.
Ayela held up a small jar of greenish glowing lichen to light the way. Isabel followed without a word, silently testing her feelings for the intensity she would need to cast a spell.
Behind them they heard a thud, then another and another followed by the sound of splintering wood.
“Ayela!” Trajan shouted.
They quickened their pace. The passage branched and Ayela went to the right without hesitation. It branched again … this time Ayela took the passage to the left that led down a flight of stairs into another passage that looked more like a natural tunnel than a constructed corridor.
Then Ayela started running. “We haven’t much time before the enemy arrives,” she said.
The passage ran in a meandering course for several hundred feet until it came to an abrupt stop. A rope ladder dangled against the wall to one side, leading up into the darkness.
Isabel saw light in the distance behind them.
“Quickly, your brother is coming.”
Ayela nodded and started climbing. Once they reached the top of the ladder, they scrambled through a hole that had been broken into the stone floor of a small room and Isabel pulled the ladder up.
“Ayela!” Trajan shouted from below.
“Where to now?” Isabel asked.
“This way,” Ayela said, leading her through a door into another hidden passage. Several minutes and many turns later, Ayela stopped and motioned for silence as she peered through a tiny hole in the wall. Satisfied, she pulled a lever and a secret panel popped open.
“This is my room,” Ayela said. “I just need to get my things before we leave.” She started loading her pack.
“Why were they coming for me?” Isabel asked.
“I warned them about the attack,” Ayela said. “Your husband appeared before me and told me your plan. At first I thought I was losing my mind, but he knew things he couldn’t have known, things that only you could have told him, so I listened, though I don’t pretend to understand how he could do such a thing.
“He told me of your plan. I know the legend of the Goiri but never truly believed it existed, much less that it can help us now. When he told me of the coming attack, I went straight to Trajan to warn him. I begged him not to tell the Sin’Rath, but that was the very first thing he did.
“I came for you as quickly as I could. They’ll kill you for revealing their location to Phane.”
“Let’s not give them the chance,” Isabel said, motioning for Ayela to hurry.
She buckled her belt and cinched down the straps of her pack, then hoisted it over her shoulders. She handed Isabel a dagger and said, “The hidden passages can take us to one of the entry halls, but none leads out of the fortress. We’ll have to escape from one of the guarded entrances.”
“That could be complicated,” Isabel said.
“I have a few things that might help,” Ayela said, patting her belt pouch. “Once we’re out, then what?”
“I have friends waiting for me,” Isabel said. “We’ll meet up with them and head for the Goiri’s crypt.”
Ayela followed a confusing maze of passages until they reached a small room where she motioned for silence, pointing to a peephole in the wall. Isabel looked through into a large entry hall filled with soldiers of Karth. Among them was one of the witches, a hideous creature with clawed hands, pale white skin, and thin black hair that barely covered her scalp. She stood amid the soldiers facing the door as the first thud of a battering ram slammed home.
Phane’s forces had arrived.
Alexander appeared and motioned for Isabel to follow him back into the passage, far enough away from the soldiers so they could talk without fear of being discovered.
“Hector and Horace are in the jungle waiting for you,” he said. “Once Phane’s people breach the defenses and enter the fortress, you should face minimal resistance.”
“What about my father and brother?” Ayela asked.
“As long as they’re under the influence of the Sin’Rath, I can’t help them,” Alexander said.
“Phane’s people will kill them,” Ayela said. “They’re all that’s left of my family.”
“The Sin’Rath have a secret way out of this fortress,” Alexander said. “They’ve already begun retreating and your father’s with them.”
“How can you know this? How can I trust you?” Ayela said.
“It’s a little late now, Ayela,” Isabel said. “If the witches catch you now, they’ll kill you. Besides, your family will always be at their mercy unless we destroy them.”
“And you think the legend of the Goiri is true?” Ayela said. “What if you’re wrong? What if we go into the gloaming swamp and find nothing but death?”
“We don’t have much choice, do we? Remember, you came to me,” Isabel said. “And the truth is, we need each other. You know this jungle better than I ever will. Help me and I promise I will help you.”
Ayela seemed torn, struggling to reconcile her decision to help Isabel with her loyalty to her family, flinching with each rhythmic thud of the battering ram pounding on the heavy fortress door.
“Once we go, there’ll be no turning back,” Isabel said. “I need to know if you’ll see this through.”
Ayela nodded tightly, a tear slipping down her cheek.
“I’ll help you free your family of the Sin’Rath,” Isabel said, putting her hand on Ayela’s arm and looking her in the eye, “but this isn’t going to be easy.”
“I know,” Ayela said.
“It’ll be time soon,” Alexander said. “I’ll be back when I have information you need.” He smiled at Isabel as he vanished from sight.
“How does he do that?” Ayela asked.
Isabel shrugged. “I’m not sure he even really understands it. I know I don’t, but the how doesn’t matter. He’s watching over us, he’ll guide us and protect us any way he can.”
“Wait, why would you have left him?” Ayela asked.
Isabel smiled sadly and shook her head. “That’s a story for another time.” She didn’t give Ayela a chance to ask another question, instead quietly heading back up the passage into the room with the peephole.
She carefully peered through just in time to see the witch unleash a terrible spell. A jet of thick green gas erupted from her outstretched hands, shooting forth in a billowing cloud into the breached door, pouring through into the space beyond. Screams of agony followed. One of Phane’s female warriors stumbled out of the side of the cloud of green gas, her face and one arm almost melted away. She took a few aimless steps until the flesh of her shoulder dissolved and her arm thudded to the ground in a sickening mass. A look of realization ghosted across what was left of her face as she fell to the ground, dead.
The attack faltered in the face of such a horrific display of power, but the Regency retreated for only a few minutes, allowing the corrosive gas to dissipate, revealing a gaping hole in the door where before there had only been a splintered crack wide enough for a single person to pass through at a time. While frighteningly effective, the witch’s spell allowed the regrouped soldiers of Phane’s female brigade to form a front line and attack with renewed energy and organization.
They came through in a wedge, shields raised against the crossbow bolts and blow darts assailing them. On command, as one, the front line went to a knee and the second line loosed a volley of arrows from short bows. Several defenders fell. An arrow grazed the shoulder of the witch. She snarled in rage before she began chanting in guttural, almost animalistic tones.
Another volley of arrows took a few more of the defenders before the witch’s next spell was unleashed. A wave of darkness, a smudge in the air, radiated from her hand toward the wedge of attackers, widening as it moved toward them with inescapable speed. It passed through them and into the tunnel beyond for several feet. For a moment nothing happened, almost as if the spell had no effect, but then the metal weapons and armor carried by Phane’s soldiers simply dissolved into rust and fell to the floor in reddish powder, leaving their front line completely defenseless against the onslaught of blow darts and crossbow bolts that followed. Dozens died in moments.
Then a man appeared in the midst of Karth’s defending soldiers, black wisps of smoke swirling around him as he casually stabbed a surprised solider in the throat, vanishing again an instant later.
Isabel stopped breathing, willing her heart to beat more quietly, lest the wraithkin hear her.
He appeared in front of the witch, smiling cruelly, casually slashing her throat, spilling a gout of black blood onto the floor, then vanishing again. The soldiers of Karth were stunned by the sudden turn of events, but even more unnerved at the sudden realization of the Sin’Rath witch’s true form, her charms losing their hold in death.
They broke and ran and the wraithkin gleefully picked them apart a man at a time. Soldiers, all of them women, entered a few moments later, carefully surveying the scene, moving quickly through the room and making sure that any survivors died quickly before regrouping and pushing farther into the fortress.
Four soldiers remained behind to secure the entry hall. Isabel looked at Ayela and held up four fingers as she drew her dagger and started building her rage. It came easily, almost too easily, boiling into nearly uncontrollable fury in just a few seconds. Recognizing the influence of Azugorath, she reined it in … but not too much.
Seeing the glittering anger dancing in her eyes, Ayela almost looked afraid of her as Isabel began muttering the words of her shield spell. Once the bubble of protective magical energy formed, she motioned for Ayela to open the door and began her next spell.
When the door opened, Isabel stepped out and burned a hole through the chest of the nearest soldier, charging the next without hesitation and catching her by surprise. The woman flailed with her sword, attempting to ward against Isabel’s reckless attack with her blade but it bounced harmlessly off Isabel’s shield. A moment later, Isabel sliced the woman’s throat and moved past her.
The other two spread out, raising their shields and facing the sudden threat. Isabel sheathed her dagger as she knelt down to retrieve a sword. Still kneeling, she unleashed a force-push at her farthest remaining adversary, then lunged toward the nearest.
The woman raised her shield and thrust into Isabel, stabbing hard against the magical barrier protecting her, but Isabel was already spinning, lending the inertia of her motion to the force of the blow that fell against the side of her opponent’s neck, taking her head in a single stroke.
She stalked toward the final soldier, the woman staggering to her feet, facing Isabel in a crouch, looking around like a cornered rat. Isabel surged forward suddenly, catching the top of her opponent’s shield in her off hand and pushing it down across her body, pinning her sword arm in the process as she crashed into it with her shoulder, knocking her off balance and slamming her against the wall, exposing her left side. Isabel brought the tip of her sword up against the thin section of armor under the woman’s armpit and thrust the point through her ribs and into her heart.
The entire battle lasted about twelve seconds. Ayela stood, wide-eyed and frozen in place, watching Isabel survey the room, looking for more enemies. Finding none, Isabel retrieved a sheath for her new sword, collected another dagger, two waterskins and some food before peering up the tunnel leading to the surface.
“We should go,” she said, willing the rage out of her voice as much as possible. The tunnel was cut through the ground at a shallow angle leading to a natural cave. When they reached the top, Alexander appeared before them, motioning for them to stop and wait. Isabel knelt down, linking her mind with Slyder and calling him to her.
A moment later they heard a shout from outside.
“Hey, you there, stop!”
“Follow him!” another voice said.
A few moments later, Alexander appeared again.
“Go out and to the left,” he said. “Follow the base of the ridge for a league or so and you’ll come to Hector and Horace. I’ll make sure they know you’re coming. Hurry.”
Isabel nodded, already moving as he faded out of sight. Ayela followed close behind her into the thick jungle.
Several hundred feet from the cave entrance, Isabel stopped and linked her mind with Slyder again, looking at the terrain through his eyes, locating the four soldiers at the cave entrance who had followed Alexander’s projection and given up the chase in favor of returning to their post. It didn’t look like they’d noticed Isabel and Ayela’s escape. Good enough. She called Shadowfang to her and then they pressed on, traveling quickly but quietly through the dense brush until Ayela stopped her with a hand on her arm.
Isabel squatted down.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“We can’t go that way,” Ayela said, pointing to the course Isabel was taking. “We have to go around.”
“Why?”
“Grapple vine,” Ayela said. “See those bright red flowers on that patch of ground cover? That’s grapple vine. If we try to go through there it will entangle us and we may not be able to cut ourselves free.”
Isabel frowned questioningly.
Ayela picked up a stout branch and tossed it into the flowers. Within a few seconds, several thick vines coiled around it and pulled it to the ground, holding it in place tightly before once again taking on the appearance of a harmless patch of flowers.
“I see what you mean,�
�� Isabel said. “What happens to its victims?”
“The vines are covered with tiny barbs that secrete a potent poison. First it paralyzes, then it causes rapid decomposition. A person caught by the grapple vine dies within a day and their body is often completely gone within a few weeks. It dissolves into the soil and feeds the plant,” Ayela said.
“That’s terrifying,” Isabel said, appraising the bright red flowers. They were beautiful and alluring, the kind of thing she might put in her hair on a warm spring day … in another life, anyway.
“I’m glad you’re with me, Ayela,” Isabel said. “I would have walked right into them.”
Ayela smiled, motioning to a safe route around the deadly jungle flora.
Isabel spotted Hector and Horace through Slyder’s eyes and adjusted course to rendezvous with them. Within the hour they approached the well-hidden brothers.
“Hector, Horace, it’s Isabel,” she said softly.
They both seemed to materialize out of the jungle.
“Lady Reishi, you’re a welcome sight,” Hector said.
“Lord Reishi was most distraught when he discovered your absence,” Horace said.
“I imagine,” Isabel said. “This is Ayela Karth. She helped me escape—protect her as you would me.”
Both Hector and Horace bowed formally to Ayela. She flushed slightly and seemed a bit flustered at their deference.
Shadowfang slipped between the brush and into the little clearing. Ayela nearly screamed, slapping a hand over her mouth. Hector and Horace drew swords as one, positioning themselves between the cat and their charges.
“Stop,” Isabel said, moving between them and scratching the jaguar affectionately under the jaw.
“This is Shadowfang … he’s my friend,” she said. “He won’t hurt any of you and he should keep some of the other predators away from us while we travel.”
“The jaguar is my house crest,” Ayela said. “They’re revered as well as feared. How can this be?”
Isabel shrugged. “Magic.”
“Forgive me,” Ayela said. “For so long, magic has been forbidden to the people of Karth. We’ve always believed it to be evil, so this is difficult for me. I saw how the Sin’Rath witch killed so many so horribly with her spells and then watched you dispatch four soldiers with almost casual ease. I was coming to think that witchcraft is only good for killing, and then you presented Shadowfang. He’s so beautiful and regal, I’m finding it hard to reconcile everything I’ve been taught all my life with the things I’m seeing.”
Cursed Bones (Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book Five) Page 21
