“You know her so well,” muttered Absalom.
Nicce looked horrified. “So, she cut you? How does that—” She broke off. “I want to kill her, Eithan. I want to rip her apart with my own hands.”
“I know you do,” said Eithan. “If it was possible to rip her apart, I would let you. No, I might want to do it myself.”
Nicce tapped her bottom lip. “Well, I suppose you would have the right to do it yourself, after everything you’ve been through.” She looked at Absalom. “Or… you? You would have the right—”
“I don’t want to kill her,” said Absalom.
They both seemed surprised.
“Oh, I want her to be dead,” said Absalom. “It doesn’t need to be me that does it. Do you have a plan to do that, Eithan?”
“I had a plan. It failed,” said Eithan, scratching his jaw. He needed a shave. “She heals. She’s like Nicce. Inside her, there’s this sort of moonlight or something and it melts her back together. I cut her in half, Absalom. It didn’t work.”
“We didn’t get her to drink my sunlight, though,” said Nicce. “Maybe if we did? It did seem to hurt her a bit when I used my light on her.”
“I don’t know how we’d do that,” said Eithan.
“You could convince her,” said Absalom. “If anyone could, you could.”
Eithan shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems like a lot to pin our hopes on. Right now, she still thinks we’re in the dungeons, and that seems like an advantage I shouldn’t throw away. You’re talking about leaving, right? Maybe we should all go and regroup. We could try to figure out a plan to come back and fight her?”
Absalom nodded. “I suppose. I’m only here for a jewel I hid under Nicce’s bed.”
“There was a jewel in my room the entire time?” Nicce put her hands on her hips. “You didn’t tell me?’
“Sorry,” said Absalom.
“Of all of us, I’m the one who can use the jewels without pain,” said Nicce. She knelt down and crawled under the bed. She came back out with the jewel.
Absalom held out a hand for it. He turned to Eithan. “Maybe we can’t kill her. Maybe it was a dream I had.”
“It wasn’t your dream, it was mine,” said Nicce.
Absalom blinked. How had he somehow mixed everything up? It was true. All he’d wanted was to escape. He’d been the catalyst for this escapade, but the idea to kill Ciaska had become formed after Nicce had joined the struggle, not before. It wasn’t his fault after all. He squared his shoulders.
“I’m the one who assumed she was vulnerable,” said Eithan. “I never saw her heal a wound before.”
“She never lets herself get wounded,” said Absalom.
“There aren’t really any stories about the gods dying,” said Nicce. “Maybe it is impossible. But, you know, there are gods that no one really seems to worship much anymore. From the older stories, like the death goddess, Maliatha. She has no temples. She’s barely referenced, and then it’s like sometimes she’s subsumed by Ciaska.”
“What are you saying?”
Nicce shrugged. “Well, Rhodes and I had a theory about the gods, that they were just people from another realm, this realm. But I don’t suppose that matters. The important part of our theory was that the stories about the gods weren’t necessarily true, that they were embellished and changed over the years as they were told, but that they might contain a hint of truth in them somewhere.”
“Sure, that makes sense,” said Eithan.
“So, do you get the impression that Ciaska has always been the goddess of nightmares? Does she ever talk about her past? Could she have killed Maliatha and taken her place?”
“The only past she ever talked about was Sullo,” said Eithan.
“Oh,” said Nicce, furrowing her brow. “There are stories that they were lovers.”
“Yes,” said Eithan. “She’s never gotten over it, would you say, Absalom?”
Absalom rolled his eyes. “The only thing she whines more about is you, Eithan.”
“But in the stories, they also have a feud,” said Nicce.
“I don’t know about feud,” said Eithan. “They don’t speak to each other any more. He’s been snubbing her for hundreds of years, and she’s still annoyed about it.”
“Because she killed his sons?” said Nicce.
Eithan rubbed his jaw. “Is that the story?”
Nicce nodded.
Eithan looked to Absalom, but Absalom shrugged. He had never pressed the goddess about this. The subject made her more volatile than usual, and he wanted to keep his head attached to his body as well as all his limbs. It was best to soothe and distract her when she brought it up.
“There’s that man she keeps in the tower,” said Eithan.
“What man?” said Absalom.
“Oh, maybe she only showed him to me,” said Eithan. “It was, um, before Zeffir, I think. She wanted to show me things she could do to Philo if I didn’t…”
Absalom put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “You didn’t have a choice,” he whispered.
Nicce looked back and forth between the two of them.
Eithan sucked in a breath and turned back to Nicce. “Go back to what you were saying.”
“I wasn’t saying anything,” she said in a soft voice. “Did she make you do it to Zeffir?”
Eithan’s jaw twitched. “You were talking about stories where the gods die.”
“There aren’t any,” said Nicce.
“Well, if there are stories about Sullo’s sons dying—”
“They weren’t gods,” said Nicce. “They had a human mother, I think. I don’t remember.”
“So, they were like you,” said Eithan.
“What?” said Absalom.
“Nicce’s father is Sullo,” said Eithan. “Maybe we can use that somehow, even though you’ve never met him. Maybe it would weaken her emotionally, maybe we could…”
“There’s a story about a man trying to kill the gods,” said Nicce. “Well, I read a different version once. In that version, he wanted to destroy the bridge to the Eliaath Fields. But in other versions, he has a weapon that kills the gods, and the gods find out and punish him by making him immortal and cutting out his guts every day and then waiting for them to grow back.”
Eithan turned to her sharply.
“What?” she said. “His name is Feteran, but—”
“Feteran,” said Eithan in a wondering voice. “Yes, that was his name.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The man in the tower,” said Eithan. “The one she cuts every day and then waits for him to heal and then cuts him again. It would have killed Philo if she did it to him, but Feteran, he was different, and he had this darkness that would pour out of him and heal him back up. It was…” He turned to Absalom. “You leave, as you planned. Take the others. Take Lian. Get as far away as you can.” He turned back to Nicce. “You and me, we’re going to find Feteran in the tower.”
Nicce furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand. You’re saying Feteran is real? He’s in this palace? He’s been here all along?”
“We can stay if you need us,” said Absalom. “What’s your plan?”
“I don’t know,” said Eithan. “I don’t have one yet. But there’s obviously some reason she’s punishing this person, and if there’s a story about his having a weapon to kill gods, then… we have to see him.”
“That’s not a plan at all,” said Absalom.
“Which is why you need to leave,” said Eithan. He turned to Nicce. “It would be stupid for me to try to convince you to go with them, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said.
He smiled at her. “I like that about you, in case you were wondering.” The bottom had gone out of his voice.
Her lips parted and she moved closer to him.
Gods, they were going to kiss. Absalom cleared his throat. “I’m standing right here.”
They didn’t kiss.
Eitha
n cleared his throat. He offered Absalom his hand. “Good luck.”
Absalom pushed Eithan’s hand out of the way and pulled the other man into a hug. “You’ll find us? No matter what, you’ll get free and find us, even if she lives. Promise me.”
“I’ll do my best.” Eithan embraced him.
They held on for a moment, and then they pulled away.
“Take care of yourself,” said Eithan.
“You too,” said Absalom. He started for the door. “And Eithan?”
“Yes?”
“Do your best to kill that bitch.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Nicce’s head was spinning. She couldn’t believe that Feteran was real. She should be used to it by now, she supposed, considering that Ciaska and the nightmares were real, but every time she felt as if she was getting a grasp on the new reality of things, it shifted.
With Absalom gone, she and Eithan set out through the palace. They went to find weapons first. Once armed with spare swords from one of Ciaska’s torture rooms, they wound through the halls until they came to a set of stairs. They started to climb.
They went up two levels and then came to another floor, which seemed mostly empty. They crossed to the other side and climbed another set of stairs. This one was narrow and twisting, the steps in disrepair. How long had this palace been here? Who had built it? The materials seemed to have come from the human world. Nicce didn’t understand it at all.
They finally emerged in a circular room at the top of the tower. It was dark here, but Eithan had brought along one of the glowing lamps from downstairs, because they’d needed something to light their way as they’d come here.
The light illuminated a circular cage in the middle of the room. The bars were all constructed of crystals, the same color as the one that Lian had been encased in. Inside, there was a bundle of rags in the shape of a man.
Nicce started toward him, but Eithan stopped her. “Wait. I remember that he was… angry.”
“How long do you think he’s been up here?” Nicce whispered. “That story about Feteran, it’s centuries old. Do you think he’s been here all that time?”
“It was nearly a hundred years ago that Ciaska brought me to see him,” said Eithan. “And he’d obviously been there a long time then. I doubt the ensuing time has improved things for him.” He glanced at her. “Let me go first.”
“Really?” she said, cocking her head. “Between the two of us, which one has healing sunlight blood, hmm?”
He surveyed her. “You’re going to bring that up all the time, aren’t you?”
“Does it bother you?” she said. “What? Do you feel like less of a man or something?”
“Well, not until you said that.” He made a face. “Now, I’m feeling slightly inadequate. I think if we survive this, it’ll mean I have to keep you in bed proving my virility for, I don’t know, days.”
She giggled. “Well, if that’s the consequence, I’ll make a habit of insulting your masculinity.”
He arched an eyebrow. His voice dropped in pitch. “You’re a wicked, wicked girl.”
And she giggled again, breathlessly.
A noise from the cage.
They both turned to look.
The bundle of rags was moving.
Nicce watched as a face emerged from beneath them. The face was drawn and pale. He had a long, straggly beard that hung off his gaunt skin. He moved like an animal, cautious. “Who is it?” came his voice.
And then he answered himself in a slightly lower voice. “Shush, now. You be quiet. These look like real ones. They’ll think you’re insane.” He laughed, smiling a wide smile that made his pale skin stretch taut over his skin.
Nicce swallowed. “Are you Feteran?”
Feteran’s eyes widened. “She knows our name. Is she real, do you think?”
Feteran shook himself, face twisting. “I told you to be quiet.”
“You be quiet, you bag of bones,” Feteran answered himself.
Nicce didn’t think he was dangerous at all, just driven out of his head with the solitude. Anyone would go mad after having been trapped in a cage for hundreds of years. She hurried forward and knelt down next to the cage.
“Careful, girl,” said Feteran, raising a bony arm. “The crystals.” He pointed at the bars.
Eithan was behind her. “That’s how she cuts him,” he murmured in her ear.
Feteran turned to Eithan. “You. I remember you. You’re one of her hunters. She brought you to me to show you her power.”
“Ciaska, you mean?” said Nicce.
“She made me one too,” said Feteran. “A hunter like you. It turned my light black.” He cocked his head to one side. “Father wasn’t pleased.”
“Sullo, you mean,” said Eithan.
“What?” said Nicce.
“I think he’s sort of your half-brother,” said Eithan.
“Brother?” said Feteran in a funny voice. “Well, now, that’s an interesting thought.” He smiled at Nicce. “Do you still have your light, then?”
“I do,” said Nicce, and she showed it to him.
Feteran started to laugh. His eyes reflected the light, and he reached out, but then he touched one of the crystals and screamed, even though Nicce couldn’t see that he’d been hurt in anyway. Feteran retreated back under his rags.
“There are crystals inside the bars,” Eithan said. “They come out. They’re sharpened like blades. They…” He gestured, bringing his fingers together in a quick movement, interlocking them. “They sort of skewer him.”
Nicce made a sound of dismay.
“I don’t know how often it happens,” said Eithan.
“Random,” came Feteran’s voice from beneath the rags. “Not that there’s any way to measure time in this godsforsaken realm. No sun.” He whimpered.
“Feteran,” said Nicce softly, “why did Ciaska do this to you? Why did she punish you?”
Feteran peered out from beneath the rags. “Is that why you’re here? To ask questions?”
Before Nicce could respond, Feteran spoke to himself. “Don’t talk to them. They’ll make you think about it all, about the time before the cage, and then they’ll leave, and you won’t be able to forget again.”
“We’re going to get you out,” said Nicce.
“What?” said Eithan. “How are we going to do that?”
“Feteran, how do we get you out of there?” said Nicce.
Feteran sat up, pulling the rags around his shoulders. “There’s a way to release the power in the crystals. There were a group of warrior priests who found the crystals of my father. The sun fighters.”
“Warrior priests?” murmured Nicce.
“It’s your Guild,” said Eithan. “They’ve apparently been around a long time. Their crystals, Sullo’s crystals, are they yellow?”
“Yes,” said Feteran. “My father had his crystals safe and locked away, of course, but Phir came and took them, and they fought and Phir split the crystals with his lightning, and they rained down to the earth. The warrior priests found them. They opened them up and let out the light.”
“The jewels, they do come from Sullo,” said Nicce. “But I don’t understand. Why do the gods make the crystals?”
“I don’t know, but they do,” said Feteran. “They put their power into them. All of them do. Even Phir, but he’s dead now.”
“Phir? The thunder god, the god of the sea,” said Nicce. “Dead? How did he die?”
“He just did,” said Feteran. “Sometimes they do. When they’re done.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if he was telling her a secret. “I didn’t used to understand it, but I do now. I would die if I could. They get tired. They want peace. They want the end. Nothing means anything when it never ends, you know. So, they go. I wish I could too.”
Nicce put her hand on one of the crystals that formed the bars on the cage.
Feteran cringed.
Nicce murmured the words to one of the spells that she used to get th
e power out of the jewels.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, saying the same words, but substituting Ciaska’s name for Sullo’s. The crystal suddenly lit up, spilling silvery white light everywhere.
Feteran cried out, hugging himself.
The light hurt Nicce. It was strong and foreign and strange, but she gritted her teeth and pushed, saying the spell louder and harder. She forced her will into the crystal, and the light burst out of it, shining everywhere, so bright and so cold and so intense.
It went on for long, long moments, but eventually, the crystal sputtered out and then it was like any of the jewels that had been used up. She drew in several steadying breaths and flicked it.
It shattered.
Feteran laughed again. The sound was wild and strange, and it echoed through the tower.
“All right,” said Eithan softly. “Well, that was… wow.”
She turned to him, beaming.
He smiled at her, too, and she couldn’t help but feel that the way he looked at her now, it was different, now that they were in love, now that they’d seen each other uncovered and vulnerable. It was good, and she’d never felt anything like it before, not with anyone. It was so much more than what she’d ever felt for a man, and looking at him made her feel lightheaded and distracted.
“One more,” Feteran said. “I can fit through if you remove another one.”
She turned back to Feteran, who was wide eyed, excited. “Tell me why you’re in here. Did you have a weapon to kill the gods?”
Feteran narrowed his eyes at her. “So, you’re like her, then. Want to make bargains.”
“I hate her,” said Nicce. “If you have knowledge that can help us hurt her—kill her—then tell us. I’ll get you out regardless. I won’t leave you here. But tell me.”
“Let me out, then,” said Feteran.
“Do you know of something that can kill a god?” said Nicce.
“Then it is a bargain.” Feteran dragged his hands through his beard. “Of course it is. I told you not to talk to them.”
“Look at me,” said Nicce, her voice commanding.
Feteran did, and something gleamed in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll bargain, too, sister.”
“You want something more than your freedom?” said Eithan. “What?”
The Dead and the Dusk (The Nightmare Court Book 2) Page 23
