He charged, swinging as he came. I parried and caught the weapon on my sword. As I expected, the blade gouged the club deeply and stuck. As he jerked back, I followed and knocked him off balance. He also staggered back and fell across a bench as I freed my sword.
I smiled. This was much too easy. Fumiko’s skills were unbelievable.
Eviek picked himself up and came at me again with his knife. Almost of its own accord, my sword parried the thrust driving it away. He jabbed again and again, but each time I blocked it. With blind rage in his eyes, he swung downward as hard as he could.
I was immediately reminded of Fumiko’s fight with Jiaying. She had made a similar move.
Seemingly of its own accord, my blade knocked the knife so hard it flew from his hand. And then, just like I had seen in Fumiko’s memory, I wheeled and aimed for the man’s throat. Only unlike Jiaying, the man had no weapon to stop me.
I didn’t want to kill him, but my body refused to yield.
Troy slammed into me, making me stagger.
My body turned on its own and quickly raised to strike the unarmed youth.
“NO!” screamed Cabrina.
Immediately, a wall of brilliant deep purple sprang up between us. It had to be the thickest myst barrier I had ever seen. I struck it. The blade reverberated in my hands like I had hit a stone wall. But I couldn’t stop. I struck it again and again, powerless to halt the blows.
A hand suddenly materialized and grabbed my wrist, halting the motion. “Stop it, Coren!” Fumiko was beside me, wearing an expression of concern. “You’re done.”
I looked at her in horror. What had just happened? I dropped my blade like it was hot. I had nearly killed Troy. If it hadn’t been for the myst shield, I would have struck him.
I looked around at the men lying on the floor and Eviek on his knees holding his injured hand. I had done all this. It was fantastic on one level—but horrific on the other. I had nearly killed them. They weren’t bad people, just desperate. But ending their lives would have come so easily, I would not have noticed.
Troy knelt beside his father. He was looking at me with terror in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I scooped up my sword and numbly followed Fumiko and Cabrina out the door.
As we walked together back toward the inn, Fumiko looked at me. “You should have waited. I told you, you weren’t ready.”
“I’m sorry,” was all I could say. “Thank the Creator you put up that shield. I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t.”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t me.”
My eyes went up in surprise.
From behind us, Cabrina spoke up. “I did it. Or at least the Cabrina inside did.”
We both stopped and turned to her.
Cabrina looked up in surprise, her eyes flitting between the two of us. “What? My host just reacted. She hates using her myst, but she can use it when she wants to. It was either that or have Troy hurt.”
Fumiko and I exchanged a glance. That had been no simple wall. While I knew very little about using myst, I did know that making something that impenetrable took a lot of it. That wall had been thick.
I crossed my arms. “You mean it wasn’t you, No-name?”
She shook her head. “No. That was all Cabrina. While I could use her abilities if I wanted, she’s asked me not to.”
We contemplated her a moment longer. The youth danced from one foot to the other. “Do you mind if we keep going? It’s frigid out here.”
We turned and resumed walking back to the inn. This only deepened the mystery about the Dark Avenyts inside Cabrina. With that much myst, there is no way we could have stopped her should she have decided not to go along with us, or worse, escape. In fact, back in the castle dungeon when Fumiko was interrogating her, she could have easily stopped it, or for that matter, broken out of the cell altogether. But she hadn’t used it.
Fumiko said she was acting differently. But I couldn’t help but wonder...
Why?
It was well past midnight when we got back to the inn. I was relieved to see Oddfrid sitting with Spraggel and Zofie in the barn. Our belongings had been packed, and all of them had on their cloaks. I immediately went to Zofie and hugged her. She obviously could not return it, but this one was more for me. I was still shaken by what had just happened. I couldn’t get Troy’s terrified expression out of my mind.
I quickly explained what happened, and Oddfrid agreed we should leave quickly.
“I could use a bit more rest since this will be the farthest of the portals, but it shouldn’t be a problem. I definitely think it’s riskier to stay than it is to go.”
He did look more rested, but I could still tell he was not up to his full ability yet. But we really needed to get away in case the local authorities decided to investigate. Since we were foreigners, there was no telling how they would treat us.
Under Oddfrid’s direction, we tied ourselves together in the same order as last time. And once more, he had us hold hands and gave us the warning that no matter what happened, never let go.
I firmly held Zofie’s hand, taking comfort in it even though she did not grasp mine in return. As for Cabrina, I didn’t think it was possible, but she held my hand more tightly than she did last time. I was afraid she was going to squeeze it off.
Oddfrid gave us one last careful once-over before closing his eyes and beginning to hum. He was a terrible hummer. I was going to have to ask him why he did that.
Like last time a glowing bubble of blue light grew up from the floor to completely enclose us. I winced as Cabrina’s sweaty hand gripped mine even tighter.
“I don’t like this,” she moaned.
Suddenly the floor vanished from beneath our feet, and we fell. The barn’s interior slid by as one would expect when falling into a hole.
As had happened last time, we dropped into a darkness so total that it seemed light could never be bright enough to illuminate it. Then up became down, and right became left, leaving me totally disoriented. The ringing sound returned and grew to a near-deafening volume, while the smells and tastes came and went faster than I could process. However, since I knew what to expect, this time didn’t seem as scary. It isn’t so bad, I told myself.
We fell a remaining few inches onto the wooden floor of a large building. A warehouse? As I made sure Zofie was all right, I noticed that Oddfrid didn’t drop the sphere surrounding us. I heard Cabrina gasp.
Looking up, I saw we were surrounded by a ring of quite unsavory men and women brandishing a menagerie of weapons. And standing at the forefront with her arms crossed was a figure I dreaded to see.
Lilith.
She was grinning. “You’re late.”
“You moved the beacon,” accused Oddfrid. “That’s forbidden.”
She shrugged. “A girl’s got to do, what she’s got to do.” She pulled her sword and tapped the myst shield around us. “Drop the barrier, old man. I have no quarrel with you. Cooperate and I’ll let you go. Besides, what can you do? You’ve got to be almost out of myst.”
As I eyed the mob around us, I realized there was no way out. We were caught.
Oddfrid looked at me, and I was convinced he was going to hand us over. Then his eyes fell on Zofie. His expression immediately hardened—
And he began to hum.
Oh, Creator!
I could feel the myst gathering.
Lilith’s eyes went wide in alarm. She looked over her shoulder. “Stop him!”
A woman in the robes of a myst adept stepped forward. But it was already too late. The floor disappeared, and we fell through.
Once again, we were immersed into an absolute inky blackness, and I quickly lost all sense of direction.
Then Oddfrid cried out in agony.
It felt like we slammed into a stone wall at full speed—my head jerked at the impact. We emerged into an early dawn sky. I gasped at the frigid air blowing past me so fast it hurt. And suddenly, my disoriented brain realized
we were falling with the wind whipping past us. Off on the horizon, I could see the sun peeking over the edge. It had been after midnight when we left, so we must have traveled quite the distance. Looking down, I could see only white puffy clouds, and below that, the ground racing toward us. Glancing over at Oddfrid, I noticed he had blood leaking from his nose, and his head rolled loosely.
What had happened?
Cabrina grabbed my arm so tightly I could feel her fingernails gouging through my cloak. And on the same arm, the charm on my wrist began glowing red hot. If it wasn’t for the frigid air blowing past us, it would have burned through my cloak.
I shook off the fog still clinging to my brain and frantically tried to think of something I could do. If I still had Abe, I maybe could transform Zofie into something that could save us. I glanced at those with me. But that wouldn’t work since the bird would have to be large enough to carry five people. And anyway, Zofie couldn’t use her myst right now.
I saw Fumiko with eyes closed, and she seemed to be concentrating. I felt our descent gradually slow, but the resistance only lasted a moment. She looked at me bleakly and shook her head, confirming she wasn’t powerful enough to stop us. Spraggel was smiling and had his arms out like he was trying to fly. I shook my head. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
I turned to Zofie beside me, expressionless as she had been since receiving the charm. This was likely going to be my last time seeing her in this world. “I love you,” I said aloud, the wind eating my words.
And she loves you too. Although I can’t understand why. You’re such a Creator blasted trouble magnet.
It was Abe!
“Can you save us?” I yelled.
Why do you think I’m talking to you, monkey brain. The princess has an idea.
The clouds were getting closer. I wondered what it would be like to pass through one.
“Then get on with it!” I pleaded.
The fluffy clouds rose up, and we plunged into them, to emerge a moment later with the ground looming closer by the heartbeat.
Wish I could, but you’ve really outdone yourself this time. Even the princess agrees. We can’t help you with this one...
I had time to wonder if I would feel any pain when I hit.
But Cabrina can.
“What?” I shouted.
Cabrina, you can hear me, can’t you? The princess did something to let you listen too.
I looked over at her, and with her eyes wide in terror, she nodded.
The princess says that Cabrina was selected for the school not only because she is a powerful myst user, but she is on Zofie’s level.
She’s a myst seer. She can not only use spells, she can craft them.
And she can use myst shields.
I didn’t think someone that was terrified could look panicked, but she did. She shook her head emphatically.
The princess says we’re going too fast to use a portal. The momentum we carry would kill us. Instead, Cabrina will have to catch us.
“I c-c-can’t do it!” she yelled. The wind was too fierce for the sound to travel, but courtesy of Zofie and my curse, I heard her in my head. And since she stuttered, it was the real Cabrina.
Abe switched to a commanding tone I had never heard him use before. No-name! You Avenyts curse! Didn’t you say your purpose was to enhance people? To perfect them! Then by the Creator, help her! It’s the only way she’s going to live.
Cabrina stared at me for just a heartbeat and then closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head.
Then I heard a different voice. It sounded female, and I knew it was the curse inside Cabrina. No-name. And she was talking to her just like Abe did me. Cabrina, it said. You’ve been practicing. You can do this.
“I c-c-can’t! Besides, putting a shield around us w-won’t help!” she cried. “It’ll be too hard. W-we’ll be c-crushed!”
You’re right. No-name replied calmly. A hard wall won’t help. But maybe a pillow would. How about you put us inside a giant pillow.
I eyed the approaching ground. I could make out what looked like water smattered with grass and tiny islands. We only had a handful of seconds left.
Cabrina nodded. She gave a deep breath and squeezed her eyes together. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I could feel the myst gathering.
“I can’t,” Cabrina whined.
I know you can, replied No-name. Think of a big puffy pillow. Pink. You like that color.
“Pink?” Cabrina asked.
Big, fluffy, and your favorite shade of pink. Do it girl! Now!
The feeling of myst gathering increased. My eyes went wide. This was big. Really big. Cabrina’s hair stood straight out, not even moving in the fierce wind. I could see sparks fly around her.
Below us, I could see a bright pink glow spread across the ground. It rose toward us, and we fell into it.
We hit it hard, but it collapsed under us, gradually slowing us down while at the same time enveloping us. It was like falling through pink honey. Slowing us until we were almost stopped, the giant myst bubble popped, and we dropped the last few feet into shallow water.
I quickly untied myself and made sure Zofie was sitting up and frantically checking her for any injury. Cabrina had passed out, and Fumiko was helping her sit up. I went to Oddfrid. He was limp, and his skin was cold, but he was thankfully breathing, although shallowly.
As I cradled him, I finally looked around. We were in some kind of swamp. Tall grass, reeds, and bushes were all around us. And it was hot. Steamy would be a better word.
Spraggel stood and looked around in puzzlement. He summed it up best.
“I don’t think I’ve been here before.”
We pulled ourselves together and splashed through the water, searching for higher ground. We finally found a little bump of a hill that was only a couple of feet above the water. But it was at least dry. Although something preferred not to share it with us, slithering through the tall grass and into the water as we stepped on. It had seemed to be a snake of some sort. But of a variety much, much larger than I was used to.
While Fumiko looked over our little island to ensure no other large creatures were sharing it, I used the lower branches of the hill’s only tree to get a higher perspective of our surroundings.
The stunted tree, a type of pine, didn’t particularly care for my weight on its limbs, but held as I climbed up a few feet. It wasn’t much higher, but it got me over the bushes and tall grass.
The land was quite flat, so even from my short height, I could see quite a ways around me. A clump of trees was not too far away to the north and looked to be relatives of the one I stood in.
Directly ahead of me, at the limits of my vision, I could make out what was either clouds or mountains. I wasn’t sure which. In the other direction, the swamp spread before me with a few of the solitary trees scattered about. There looked to be a rather large lake in that direction and perhaps some open water.
As I was climbing down, I noticed a piece of cloth tied to a branch. It was a dull red now, but at one time had likely been much brighter. And it had been put there deliberately. I looked around. So there were people here too.
I plopped down beside Zofie, who sat calmly looking ahead with no expression. A flying insect buzzed around her, and I waved it away. There certainly was no shortage of those.
Cabrina huddled by herself a short distance away with her arms hugging her knees. She looked tired, but her expression was unreadable. I got the impression there was an internal conversation going on with the curse inside.
I leaned over toward her and pointed to Spraggel. He had curled up on his side and was already snoring. I swear that man could sleep through the end of the world.
Cabrina turned her gaze to where I pointed. “Why don’t you take a nap too,” I suggested. “I’ll watch.”
She nodded weakly and laid down.
We were all exhausted from sloshing through the water, not to mention having no sleep. While the sun may have been up
, our bodies were still convinced it was a couple of hours after midnight. I couldn’t help but wonder how far we had traveled through the portal. It had been near midnight when we had started. Since dawn greeted us when we arrived, that meant we had moved quite the distance to the east. And the warm weather indicated we were in a much lower latitude. We were likely half a world away from home now.
I took the chance to check on Oddfrid. His condition was unchanged, and he had not regained consciousness. Fumiko thought he must have myst depletion, but she wasn’t sure. What she didn’t say was that he really needed a healer.
Fumiko sat beside me. “Where do you think we are?”
I shook my head. “Probably one of the southern lands, but I honestly have no idea.” I pointed to the tree behind me. “I also found evidence of people here. We’ll have to keep watch. We don’t know if they will help us or eat us.”
Fumiko gave a tired nod. “I doubt they’ll eat us. We don’t look very tempting right now.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
We sat for a moment in silence. Off in the distance, I heard a lonely bird cry out.
“Why do you think Oddfrid took us here?” she asked. “Do you think he had this destination in mind, or was this just some random location to get us out of there?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea, but I’m sure he had a reason.” I slapped at an insect on my neck.
Fumiko glanced over at Oddfrid and then to Cabrina. “I guess the bigger question is, how did Lilith know where we would come out?” She pulled up several blades of grass and began to braid them. “She’s known our location three times now. That’s too much of a coincidence. She’s got to be tracking us. Do you think Cabrina is giving our location away?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Or at least, not intentionally. No-name and Lilith seem to have different agendas.” I glanced over at the youth. Cabrina lay facing away from us, so I couldn’t see her face. “There’s definitely something about her that we don’t understand. But I don’t think she’s in league with Lilith.”
Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) Page 23