by Bree Despain
chapter forty-five
daphne
I am shaking. Not only from the near bone-crushing fall and the horrible things I’ve seen, but also because I have no outlet for finding relief. I cannot speak, I cannot scream, my cries have no sound. My voice has always been my greatest strength, the thing that made me who I am—my heart and soul. Without it, I feel naked and vulnerable. Weak.
But there’s no time for weakness. I run down the spiraling staircase with Haden at my side and the Lesser boy trailing behind us. Screeching echoes from the owl roost we have only just left behind. The twist of the staircase makes me dizzy and my injured knee throbs from the constant downward movement—and I find myself wishing I’d taken the time in the mortal world to find a replacement for the makeshift brace Shady had made for me. I am shocked when I realize that was only a couple of days ago. At the moment it feels like a lifetime.
Haden leads me out of the tower into a long corridor. The air feels heavy here and I realize we must be underground. We run until we come to a dead end. The corridor ends at a pair of golden doors that look like they have been carved into rock wall. As if the doors lead inside an underground cavern. An intricate pattern depicting some sort of ritual is carved into the doors, but they have no handles, no knobs. No way of opening them that I can see. At the side of each large door is a small hole, only large enough to fit a balled fist.
Haden holds up his hand. His fingers are laced with crackling strands of blue electricity, and he clenches it into a fist. “Are you able?” he asks the boy.
The child nods and holds his hand open. He scrunches his eyes as if concentrating, and a moment later a few sparks of blue light dance up from his palms. When I first met the boy I had assumed he was older because he was already a servant, but looking at him now I realize that he can’t be much older than five. Maybe six.
“Come on, come on,” Haden whispers in encouragement. “You can do it.”
The boy takes a deep breath, and when he exhales the sparks grow into thin wisps of electricity. The boy lets out a little cheer. Haden shoves his lightning-engulfed fist into the hole on one side of the doorway and instructs me to lift the boy so he can do the same on the other side. I gather they are initiating some sort of unlocking mechanism when blue light begins to spread through the carved pattern in the doors. When the light reaches the center where the two doors connect, I hear a thunking noise followed by a loud click. The doors crack open.
Haden throws the doors open and pushes the boy inside. I follow, looking back over my shoulder to see a swarm of shadows rolling through the corridor. Haden enters the chamber and pulls the doors shut. There’s another loud thunk, and the doors lock behind us.
“We need to cover the crack in the bottom,” Haden says, ripping the golden cloak off my shoulder. He wedges it under the door, closing off the sliver of light that shines through the crack. At first I don’t know what good that will do, but then I realize—how else would shadow enter a room, if not through the nooks and crannies? I don’t know how long it will hold off the beasts, but I hope it will be long enough.
The cavern is dark. No torches or overhead lights, but as my eyes adjust, I can see that the chamber is dripping with crystals. They hang from the ceilings and protrude up from the floors like stalactites and stalagmites. The air tastes salty but as I breathe it in, the strangest sensation tingles through my body. I feel as if I am getting stronger. The pain in my knee eases ever so slightly. No wonder they call this place the healing chambers.
I look around, trying to get my bearings in the dark. At first I think we are alone, that there is no one else hiding in here after all, but then a sound echoes through the chamber that makes my heart race.
A baby’s cry.
Followed by the shush of a mother and a gasp of another.
“Hello?” I try to call but no sound follows.
“Come out,” Haden says, calling to the people who must be hiding behind the outcroppings of crystals. “There’s no time for hiding.”
Someone coughs and someone else cries, but no one moves.
“We’re here to help,” the Lesser boy calls into the chamber.
“Link?” someone calls from within the cavern. “Link, is that you?”
“Mama?” the boy calls back. A pang of guilt catches me by surprise—I had never bothered to ask the boy his name. Almost as if by being a Lesser, I didn’t think he had one. “Mama!”
A woman appears from behind a crystal wall. Her dress is made of fine silk and dripping with jewels, and she holds a baby on her hip, but she’s so thin and frail, I don’t know how she can bear the child’s weight. Link runs to her and she wraps her arm around him as he clings to her side. Haden and I step forward and the woman suddenly pushes Link back—as if embracing her child were forbidden. Her eyes lock on Haden, assessing him like a gazelle would look at a lion.
“It’s all right,” Haden says, slowly stepping closer.
She takes a step back.
“He’s not like the others,” Link says. “He’s here to help us. The new queen, too. They can get us out of here.”
The woman gives Haden another once-over. “You’re the disgraced prince?” she says. “The one they banished?”
Her words make me want to jump to Haden’s defense—tell her there’s nothing disgraceful about him, but I literally have no words.
“Yes,” Haden says. I wish I could read his tone right now—know exactly how he feels about answering to that title.
“And you came back for us?” she asks.
Haden nods.
“Follow me, then,” she says, taking Link’s hand. She leads us deeper into the chamber, past rows of what look like bed-shaped stones that I imagine they lay the sick on top of. I remember Haden telling me about when his mother was dying, how he begged his father to bring her here. I wonder if he’s thinking of that now.
We pass the last row of stone beds and then follow the woman around a crystal-encrusted outcropping. What we find on the other side makes me wish I could cry out in joy.
People. Dozens and dozens of people. Women and children mostly. So many children. Babies and toddlers and older boys. Some dressed in armor, others in rags. A few old men, and even a few soldiers, most looking like they are healing from various injuries. I even recognize the woman who had brought me my clothes—the former queen.
“Moira,” Haden says, nodding to her.
She looks up at him, and her expression makes her seem dumbfounded. As if he were the last person she ever expected to see again. She doesn’t ask about her husband, King Ren.
“They left us,” Link’s mother says. “The Lords said we were the weak ones and left us behind. The other Boons and I gathered the remaining children and came here. The soldiers took the chariots and rode for the gate. ”
“They didn’t make it,” Haden says. These are the words I would have spoken if I could. “You may be the only survivors of this world.”
“Then the children must be saved,” one of the old men says. “They’re the future of this realm.”
Haden looks at me and I nod, knowing what he’s saying with his eyes.
“We’ll get you all out,” Haden says. “I promise.”
Link’s mother places her hand on Haden’s arm. “I was there the day of your Choosing Ceremony. I was serving the Court. I heard what the Oracle said when she chose you. She said you were the one who could save us.”
The woman leaves us and starts to gather the children. A strange faraway look settles on Haden’s face. I tug on his sleeve, as if asking if he’s okay.
“I’m fine,” he says, caressing his fingers over mine. “I’m good. I only now realized something. Only a thought . . . When the Oracle chose me to come find you all those months ago, she said that you were the one who could restore what had been taken from my realm long ago. She said I was the one who could save my people. I thought all along she was talking about you being the Cypher and finding the Key—but maybe that’s not what she
meant. Maybe this is what she foresaw. That I would be the one to bring you here to save the last of my people right now.”
I nod. I don’t know if he’s right, but I like the idea. It gives me hope that we can get all of these people out. Get them to safety.
But another thought pulls at me—if not the Key, then what is it that the Oracle foresaw that I would restore to this realm?
I don’t dwell on the thought because Link’s mother has gathered the children in front of me. There are so many people here—so many more than I had hoped we could save. I know I can’t carry all of them with the Kronolithe at once. But I also don’t want to leave anyone behind.
chapter forty-six
haden
Daphne takes ten people at a time. Five clinging to each of her arms. I know she wants to try to carry more but I don’t want her to risk it. I doubt she can get far carrying that many people at once, and I am not sure where it is that she deposits them since she’s unable to speak. I wish I had something for her to write on—or better yet, that I could read her mind.
Every time Daphne leaves, I feel as though my heart stops beating until she returns. I guess it is a good thing each trip takes her only a few seconds.
The Keres grow impatient outside the door. This chamber is protected by powerful magic set in place by Hades himself, but the way the door rattles and shakes, I worry it won’t hold much longer.
It takes ten trips—there are a little less than a hundred of us—and I can tell Daphne is fatigued when she returns for the last group. “Take a minute to rest, “ I say, even though I keep a wary ear out for the Keres.
She shakes her head. “No time,” she mouths.
This makes me worry what I’ll find on the other side.
Daphne scoops up a nursling and then grabs on to Link and his mother. An elderly lord takes her other hand. We’re the last of the survivors. I wrap my arm around Daphne’s waist. She lets out an inaudible sigh and we disappear.
Where we land is one of the many docks along the River of Woe. This one is only a couple of miles from the border of the royal grounds. I assume this is as far as Daphne could get with so many people, but it will have to be good enough for now. I can hear her song here, floating through the air as if it were carried on the wind. If the Keres come, at least they will be killable.
The refugees from the palace are huddled under the dock. Link and his mother help the elderly Lord join them. Daphne takes a step to follow and then collapses. Her legs give out and fold under her. I catch her up in my arms and hold her to my chest.
“Are you all right?” I ask, kissing her forehead. Her brow is damp and her skin is pale.
She nods, but I know she’s lying. Her right nostril crinkles when she lies. She points off toward the horizon, and I know she’s trying to indicate that we need to get back to Persephone’s Gate, but that’s not happening now. What we need to do is find better cover so she can rest. Trying to get all these people to the gate now would only serve to kill her from exhaustion.
I circle around, holding her in my arms, scanning our surroundings. I know there are caves nearby but those might take us back onto royal land. I search for a better form of shelter than the dock or a hiding space, but come up empty. This place is nothing but rolling dunes of dust and sand.
“Look! Look!” Link calls out, grabbing my attention. I follow his frantic gesture and see a large black V in the sky, heading our way. No, not only one V. That one is only the first. Several others follow. A legion of Keres. A legion of Keres coming here.
They may be killable, but there is no way I can defend all of these people against thousands of monsters. Have we saved my people from the palace only to bring them to their deaths? I run under the dock and lay Daphne down next to Link’s mother.
“What are those creatures?” she asks.
“Keres. That is their true form. The music has made them corporeal, which means they can be killed—but I can’t take them all on my own.”
“I can fight,” one of the injured soldiers calls out. He has a badly mangled foot, as if it had been caught in a chariot wheel, but I won’t refuse help.
“Us also,” another soldier says, indicating himself and his five other comrades.
I nod, grateful to have seven men on my side. Alas, that number is so small compared to how many Keres are headed this way.
“Me too,” Link says, coming to stand beside me. He holds a tiny wisp of lightning in his small hand. The boy can’t be more than five years old—still considered merely a child in the underworld.
“Link, no,” his mother shouts.
“I always wanted to be a soldier, Mama,” he says. “This might be my only chance.”
What he means is last chance. I hate this idea, but I also know it will be all of our last chances if we can’t fight off the Keres.
The black flocks of monsters draw closer. More of the older children gather around me, volunteering their help. Some are apprentices dressed in armor and others are Lessers like Link.
I decide I hate that word. There is no one Lesser here. They are all brave to me.
Five of the soldiers climb up on top of the dock. The Keres have the high ground, so defending those under the dock is our objective—if we can hold the creatures off until Daphne regains some strength, she may at least be able to get some of the women and younger children out of here.
When the first V dives for the dock, I know immediately my little band of soldiers isn’t enough. We fell three Keres but they pick off two of our guards from the top of the dock. The Keres rip them apart and toss them into the river. A second V dives right after the first. I lose one of the boy soldiers. My bolt misses the beast and it flies off with its prey. The third flock dives and I give it all I’ve got—but my bolts are not enough. As many as I pick off, they keep coming. They break through my thin line of small soldiers and go after the women and children.
“My brother!” Link shouts, and I see one of the Keres snatch up a nursling in its talons. I recognize the child as the one Link’s mother had been carrying. The beast has snatched it right out of her arms. She shrieks as the birdlike monster flaps its black wings and takes off with the child. Link chases after it, throwing his small bolts of lightning. I leave the safety of the dock and chase after them. I form a sphere of blue lightning in my hand and fling it at the beast. It hits the Keres square in the back between its wings. The blow causes the Keres to drop the child. Link dives, catches his brother, and tucks and rolls away from the exploding beast.
I am amazed. Absolutely amazed. I cannot imagine either of my brothers—Rowan or Garrick—ever doing such a thing for me.
But it’s not enough. None of it is enough. We don’t have enough manpower. A fourth flock of Keres comes, swooping low to the ground. I hear more screaming from the dock and watch two Keres fighting over one of the women, threatening to tear her in two. I run to help her, preparing a new bolt, when I see another Keres swoop low to grab Link and his brother.
I cannot save them all.
A great moaning wail echoes over the riverbank. A dark gray figure jumps out from behind a boulder and launches itself on top of the low-flying Keres that has its sights on Link. It grabs the beast by the throat with two large hands and . . . rips the Keres’s head clean off. The Keres explodes, and a strange sound fills the air—the mixture of screeching and moaning. I blast the Keres that fight over the woman and look out over the horizon and see a horde of other gray figures running down the hillside toward the riverbank.
Shades.
A horde of Shades is coming this way.
I start to run for the dock, wanting to tell the people to dive out into the water. They will be out in the open for the Keres, but at least the Shades cannot swim. But then I see it—the strangest sight in all of my days in both the Underrealm and the mortal world. I see a very large Shade riding on the back of a giant three-headed hellrat, and behind the Shade sits a short boy in a fedora with a purplish ribbon.
“Tobin
?!”
Yes, Tobin, along with the abnormally large Shade, appear to be leading the charge. The Shade shoves his fist in the air and gives a great moaning shout. Tobin waves his hat in the air. “You heard the boss,” he shouts. “Attack the Keres!”
I would have never believed it in a million centuries—a cavalry of Shades is coming to our rescue.
chapter forty-seven
daphne
I can’t believe my eyes. Not only is Tobin alive, he’s brought reinforcements. And not just any reinforcements, but an unstoppable horde of hungry Shades. There are thousands of them. They just keep coming over the hill and go straight for the Keres. At first the winged beasts try to go on the offensive and pick off the Shades with their dive-bombing tactic, but whenever a Keres gets less than ten feet from the ground, the Shades spring into the air. They jump on the creatures’ backs, tearing their wings and heads from their bodies. The flocks of Keres fly higher, trying to stay away from the Shades’ reach. The distance gives Haden and the remaining soldiers the relief they need to strike with their lightning bolts. It rains stone chunks of Keres from the sky as if were a monsoon. The Shades feast on the fallen black angels.
I gather a group of children around me under the dock, protecting them from the falling carnage. The children cover their ears—the sounds of moaning and screeching almost drown out my song that circles through the air. Finally, the Keres do more than pull back. They retreat. They flap away from the river back toward the palace, where they can’t hurt anyone, at least for now.
The children let out great whooping cheers as we watch the beasts retreat. I wish I could join them. Instead, I throw my hands up in the air.
That is until I realize we are now surrounded by thousands of Shades.
The Shade sitting on the hellrat shouts a command. “Fooollow the Keres!”
The others take off, running after the Keres toward the royal grounds. I stand, gathering the children behind me as the gray, faceless Shade swings off the hellrat’s back and approaches me on foot. He’s larger than the others, almost twice the size, and I realize when his gaping mouth twists into a grin-like expression that I know him.