“This is it,” he said.
“Where?” I craned my neck to find anywhere that looked like an entrance.
“We can only get in if we crawl. That’s how I did it before.” Mihai pointed to a spot near the ground where two boulders met with a triangular opening near the ground.
“How did you find this?” Orsika asked, eyes narrowed. She didn’t bother to hide her skepticism.
I couldn’t blame her. It felt odd that anyone would choose to crawl on their belly between two rocks just to see what was behind them. It was a move more likely to get themselves stuck than anything else.
“I’d stolen some bread.”
“But why would you go there?” I asked. Whether it was Orsika’s concern, or the way Georgia Anne kept shifting from foot to foot and biting her lip, my nerves were tingling with warning.
“I thought I could hide until the wardens stopped looking. I didn’t know it would open up like it does.”
No one said anything as we stared at the boulders. An eagle or hawk screeched in the distance, and the sound made me shiver. Memories of a demon in hawk form didn’t help the tension filling my gut.
“While I’m willing to trust you, Mihai, I don’t think I’m going to fit through there,” Georgia Anne finally said in a soft voice.
She was rounder than the rest of us, but not overweight. I could see how the small opening might concern her—I wasn’t too keen on having to wriggle in the dirt myself. Being in such a defenseless position was never a good idea in strange surroundings.
“I’ll go first and show you how to do it. You’ll be fine!” With that, Mihai darted to the opening and scrambled through in a heartbeat. Apparently, he was done with our indecision.
“I say we leave him there and go someplace else,” Orsika said. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“He’s just a little boy. It’ll be alright.” Georgia Anne straightened her shoulders and tried to give us a confident smile, which didn’t look convincing. But she nodded, to herself it seemed, and faced the tight gap.
Lying on her belly, she wiggled head-first between the rocks. I glanced at Orsika, whose lips were a tight line, echoing my same irritation. If Georgia Anne got herself stuck—or worse, got through but couldn’t come back out—she’d make it easier for all of us to be caught.
“Wow! It really does open up in here,” Georgia Anne called. “It’s only tight for a bit, come on in.”
I hung my head and sighed. “Do you want to go or stand guard?” I asked Orsika.
“I’ll wait. if anyone shows up, I can handle them.”
That was true, I didn’t know how I’d take on a group of vampires if they found us.
I swallowed and didn’t give myself any more time to think about it. Grateful that I was in my human shape and didn’t have to fight my wings, I pulled myself through the dirt. The boulders scraped my shoulders, and the dirt splattered in my face. The smell grew more damp as darkness surrounded me. I wasn’t sure if my elemental powers worked where we were, but I created an image of a smooth path, free of the small sharp rocks and roots that dug into my stomach and thighs.
Nothing changed as I kept crawling.
Georgia Anne had answered so quickly, it felt as though I should have made it through the opening already. I became concerned. I’d never put myself into such a tight spot before.
My heart beat so hard, I could feel it against the ground. I closed my eyes . . . not that it did anything. The air was so thick I couldn’t breathe.
Unable to move forward or backward, I was frozen in place.
Now what?
“Niasa, it’s just a little ways more.” Georgia Anne’s soothing voice sounded near my ears. “Here, take my hand.”
I didn’t open my eyes, but latched on to the proffered limb when she touched me. She pulled gently, and I heaved myself through by kicking my feet. As soon as the pressure of the small opening released me, I rolled to my back and heaved in as much air as I could. I couldn’t hear over the torrent of blood rushing through my ears. After what felt like hours, I opened my eyes.
The light was dim, but I could see. Orsika stood behind Georgia Anne, who crouched next to me. I’d never experienced a feeling like that before, and wasn’t keen to do it again when we had to leave this stupid cave.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were claustrophobic,” Georgia Anne said. “I thought I was the only one worried about getting through the small space. Are you starting to feel better?”
Without the boulders pressing against my shoulders, I was doing a little better. However, the tight quarters of the small cave, with four bodies filling the dim light, wasn’t as helpful as it could be. I’d never experienced such a feeling, but I’d never put myself in a hole in the ground, either.
“How did you get through behind me so fast?” I asked Orsika as I stood and brushed the dirt off my chest.
“I blinked.”
And you couldn’t have taken me with you?
I sighed. It didn’t matter anyway, I’d made it through and that’s what counted. “Where’s the light coming from?” I didn’t need any more focus on the hole or my inability to function within it. There had to be a source somewhere for the light, because it had been complete blackness inside the tunnel.
“This way,” Mihai said, gesturing us to follow him.
A tunnel showed over his shoulder, but it seemed like we’d be able to walk, albeit hunched over. Still, that would be a whole lot better than what I’d just been through. I’d already had my moment of panic, so I’d suck it up and keep myself together from now on.
Mihai jogged through, into the next passage, and I motioned for Georgia Anne to follow. She didn’t need to keep hovering over me.
Orsika flicked her brows at me to go in front of her. Rather than the mocking expression I expected to see on her face, if I wasn’t mistaken, even she seemed concerned for me.
She was an interesting one, for sure.
I bent over and followed where the other two had gone, with Orsika right behind me. We hurried along about ten paces, and then the tunnel turned into an expansive cave. At least twelve feet high, it rose to a peak, with a small fissure allowing a shaft of light to shine down from the sky. The circular space must have been twenty paces across.
It would have been more relaxing of a hiding spot if six humans hadn’t stepped out of the shadows from the far edge of the space.
“Good work, Mihai,” a woman’s voice growled toward us with a sinister grin on her face.
22
Mihai left Georgia Anne’s side and went to stand near the woman who had spoken. The little jerk had drawn us in and led us right to a trap.
The ragtag group in front of us didn’t appear at all threatening compared to the strength of Orsika or myself, but we’d been outwitted. In all the time that I’d fought to find a better, more tactical warrior for Valhalla, I’d apparently never learned anything myself.
“That red-haired one isn’t one of them, she’s regular like us,” Mihai said.
“How is it, then, that you’re able to survive among such vile creatures, if you’re so normal?” The woman directed a narrow glare to Georgia Anne.
For her part, Georgia Anne stood tall and met the woman’s eyes without a flinch. “I ain’t a vampire, but that doesn’t mean I’m any safer. You need to let us go.”
Orsika huffed a laugh. She and I glanced at each other, and I had to fight a grin too. Our friend really had a boatload of confidence for one who couldn’t even pass first levels.
“You are in over your heads if you think you can trap us here,” Orsika said. Her calm, cool tone oozed with a mix of threat and annoyance.
Movement caught my eye from the right and then to the left. More humans emerged. This was not going well.
“Listen, we are not a threat to you unless you want us to be,” I said.
I figured if they thought I was a vampire too, it might take some pressure off Orsika, and leaving them with that
impression would be easier than trying to explain I was something else entirely that they may not have ever even heard of.
I had no idea where we were, and these people with their pale skin and dark hair were unfamiliar to me. Their accents sounded similar to Orsika’s, however, which made me believe we were near her homeland. If that was the case, she’d have more insight about the situation.
“You’ve heard of the dhampir, I presume?” Orsika asked.
“She said that’s who she was, but I don’t think she’s telling the truth,” Mihai added.
“We’re just regular humans, you need to believe us,” Georgia Anne said. She tried to sound convincing, but everyone in the cave knew she was lying. “Okay, maybe not regular, but we’re all on the same side. We just ran from a vampire ourselves, and it was Orsika who saved us. Niasa and I are truly not one of them. Mihai, I’m disappointed in you. That was a convincing act.”
For what it was worth, I thought Georgia Anne’s tone sounded like the harvester commander after she’d had enough of my antics. I doubted she’d have much of an impact on the attitudes surrounding us, however.
“Do you have proof that you are the dhampir?” a man asked as he stepped up beside the first woman.
“Jarren, you can’t believe her?” The woman faced him with such an anger, I thought she was going to strike him.
“If she’s a vamp, why hasn’t she attacked? No one has ever stood in the presence of one of those things this long and lived.”
Shuffles of feet and a few muttered comments floated into the air from the others. It was at least an opportunity for Orsika to explain herself.
Then, in the span of a heartbeat, Orsika was in front of the man. She’d yanked the woman’s back against her own chest, and seemed about ready to break the woman’s neck.
Chaos erupted all around. I found myself with a net of some sort thrown over my head. Georgia Anne was knocked to the ground, with a man and two women holding her down in the dirt.
“Orsika!” I yelled as ropes dug into my arms, and I became wrapped tight.
“Let me go,” Georgia Anne called. “I’m just a human.”
Her pleas weren’t going to work. After that display of Orsika’s speed and power, these people wouldn’t be talking to us again. I wouldn’t either, if I was in their position.
“I was at Crown’s Creek,” Orsika told the man in a smooth, low voice.
He watched her with wide eyes.
“Sixty bodies were shriveled and bloodless, but still whole. Another sixteen however, had their heads removed though still plump with blood,” she continued. “From the reports, no one understood why there was a difference. I heard that some thought it was wild animals—that’s the type of stupidity that makes people weak. It also makes me wonder if culling certain humans isn’t a mercy performed by our race. But who do you think did that? Killed sixteen vampires? Have you ever heard of a human capable of that?”
The man shook his head as the woman whimpered. “Let her go, and we’ll talk. I believe you,” he begged.
He didn’t, that was clear from the panic on his face. Anyone in his position would say whatever they needed to.
“Just because you were there doesn’t mean you killed those vamps. You could have been one that escaped!” a man called from somewhere behind me.
“No vampires escaped that day. However, four women, one man, and three children did. I saved them.” Orsika kept her eyes trained on the man in front of her.
“That’s true,” said an older woman who stepped closer from the side. “I was one of those women. But you don’t look familiar.”
She spoke in a bold tone and I couldn’t fathom what made her challenge Orsika.
“You wouldn’t be able to recognize me, now would you?” Orsika twisted her neck to meet the woman’s gaze.
The slightest of smiles crossed the woman’s face.
“Why is that?” the man in front of Orsika asked.
“Because I was wearing a hood and a mask. I’d made it special so that no one would be able to identify me. My brothers wouldn’t have been pleased to know that their own sister was killing their precious creations.”
“You’re Orsika Nadasdy?” The man paled more than his general appearance, which was impressive. It seemed as though he’d already been drained of all his blood.
Orsika dropped her hands from around the woman and pushed her away. Her eyes narrowed on the older woman who’d stepped forward. “I remember you, you’re name is Lucia. You were the only one who’d grabbed a stick and tried to fight back.”
“You expect us to believe that Orsika Nadasdy, the princess of Čachtice Castle, is the famed dhampir?” The interruption sounded like it came from the same voice as before.
I tried to turn to see the speaker, but the two men on either side still held me firm. They had about five seconds to let me go, or I was going to switch to my ethereal form and give them something else to worry about. I’d already decided that’s what I’d do if things took a turn for the worst, but now they were just annoying me.
The woman who’d been present at what sounded like a massacre stepped closer to Orsika. “You have your mother’s elegant profile. My father used to deliver paper to her. He insisted that neither my mother nor my sisters and I go anywhere near that castle. But I snuck close once with a couple friends. We saw Elizabeth strolling through her gardens and humming while she collected flowers in a basket. I didn’t know why my father was so afraid of her.”
Orsika stepped back, seemingly to give the others a little room and not appear so threatening. She faced the older woman, and I saw my friend’s shoulders droop ever so slightly, yet she still stood strong as far as anyone else most likely noticed.
Lucia continued. “Then we were surprised by a couple of guards. They grabbed my friends, but I ran away. I never saw my friends again.”
“They didn’t survive, most likely. My mother did her work inside, where no one would be able to see, but she wasn’t all that secretive. The screams could be heard echoing off the stone walls throughout the castle.”
The woman nodded. “I’ve escaped vampires twice now. Teach me how to kill them—how to be like you.”
“Let my friends go,” Orsika countered.
The two stood locked in a stare of equal intensity. Finally, the woman looked away and nodded to the man Jarren.
“Release them both,” he called to those holding me and Georgia Anne.
Finally, the ropes fell away, and I helped yank the stupid net from over my head. More of my curls had broken free, and after the run through the woods, the crawling through that blasted tunnel, and now this, I could see in my peripheral vision that they stuck out in all directions. I’m sure I seemed more crazy than threatening.
“Can you teach all of us?” A younger girl stepped out of the crowd to the side of the older woman.
Orsika scanned the room and made sure that Georgia Anne and I were truly free before she spoke again. “I’m afraid that I can’t teach any of you. Your best bet is to learn how to stay away from vampires. This cave seems a good start.”
“You can’t teach us, or you won’t?” the same girl asked.
“I can’t. You’d have to be a vampire first yourself.”
That silenced all the movement in the room.
I braced myself for another go-round with whoever held that net. I wouldn’t let them trap me twice.
“So you are a vampire,” said the first woman that Orsika had captured.
“I’m close enough.”
“So, we aren’t going to see if we can find their lair?” Mihai sounded so disappointed.
“Another time, Mihai. For now, we need to decide how to move on from here. Why did you come? What made you follow Mihai?” Jarren asked.
“The same as you, most likely,” Georgia Anne offered. “We were lookin’ to keep the blood flowin’ through our bodies.”
“Where are you from?” the original woman asked.
“Sweden. Her name
is Georgia Anne. This is Niasa, from . . . Spain.” Orsika was quick to answer so that Georgia Anne wouldn’t. We’d all have to talk later when we had a moment to ourselves.
“I’m Jarren, and this is my wife Cordelia. You’ve met Mihai and Lucia.”
Orsika arched a brow at the boy who’d lured us into his trap. “Yes, we’ve met.”
Mihai rolled his shoulders in sheepishly. Though I saw a slight grin grace his lips. The little fool, I knew that a sane person wouldn’t shimmy through that hellhole.
“We can introduce the rest once we’re settled. There are more comfortable chairs and rooms for you back this way.” Jarren turned and pointed into the shadows.
I wasn’t about to go in front of him—or any of them. In fact, I wasn’t sure we should go any farther at all.
“How much space do you have under here?”
“The cave goes far into the mountain. It used to be a mine for graphite, but we’ve carved out some more space for ourselves. We found it about a year ago, and have grown our numbers since then.”
“If they’re going to stay, they’ll need to help. There’s not enough food for three more. Or maybe two?” Cordelia studied Orsika with a pinched expression.
“I eat, but I don’t need to as often as the rest do.”
“I’ll be happy to help. My daddy and brothers taught me to hunt and fish, I’d be happy to go with anyone to do that,” Georgia Anne piped up. She seemed ready to move on and enjoy the company of our former captors.
A noise escaped my throat as I crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t as quick to forgive.
“You can follow,” Jarren said. “No one will harm you . . . unless they need to defend themselves.” He shot a look to Orsika and then me. Apparently he wasn’t worried about Georgia Anne any longer.
A few grumbles came from around the room, but everyone seemed to follow his lead. Those closest to where Jarren had pointed earlier began to filter through an opening I could barely see in the dark.
Time Academy Page 13