“Perhaps we should exchange progress for possibilities,” Oisin said.
“I believe Pollux would like that. He is determined to go back the way we came,” Liam said, struggling to keep his horse under control.
“How can there be possibilities in what we have already seen?” Shane asked.
Liam wondered that as well, until a thought came to him. Perhaps Pollux’s behavior meant that Ally and Caleb had not gotten far at all. Perhaps they never left.
Liam turned Pollux about. “We need to return!”
***
Ally looked to the sky. Was that Corm?
“You say you killed him,” Sukata said, following her gaze. “The soul touching Chimera’s light indicates you have failed.”
“I did kill him,” Caleb replied.
“You believe that to be so, but you are mistaken.” Sukata glanced at Askari, who pulled the single arrow from the quiver hanging from his horse’s saddle. To Ally, in the brown-red light of the moon, the tip appeared covered in blood. “Chimera often plays tricks with one’s eyes,” Sukata said as if reading her mind. “What you see is not a lie but, rather, a premonition jumping in time.”
Askari held the arrow near its tip with his right hand and pressed his thumb against one of its flat sides. The snake tattoo on his chest began to writhe, and the head of the cobra broke free from his flesh. There was no blood, only blackness and bone that filled the space left behind. The serpent’s head hovered inches from Askari’s right ear, its tongue darting in and out of its mouth.
The repulsive sight was more than Ally could take. She slipped from Mayhem’s back and hit the ground, hard. The pain in the left side of her head and shoulder nearly blinded her, and she fought to remain conscious. She looked above her, and saw Askari’s left hand take hold of the snake’s head, his fingers wrapped around its neck and his thumb pushed down between the snake’s eyes. Drops of poison oozed from the fangs and landed on the arrow’s point. His lower ribs and pelvis were exposed now, the bones clean. No flesh except for that of the snake clung to his skeleton. Death’s half brothers… The world faded again, but she fought to hold on as long as she could.
Corm moved from right to left over the tops of the trees, and Askari faced him while he loaded the arrow into the bow and directed it toward the sky.
Corm came into view again. “Now the Shayeen will come to know night,” Askari said to Ally.
“No!” she screamed.
The cobra curled around Askari’s extended arm, its head cocked in an odd way near his fingers as he traced the path of his prey. The arrow jumped into the night; the air shifted as it went on its way.
“Corm!” she screamed. He had to see it coming but remained directly in its path. Why isn’t he flying away? A sickening screech met her ears as the arrow found its mark. Her friend hung in the air for a moment, and then tumbled from the sky.
Strength from a supernatural source made her scramble to her feet and begin a stumbling run in the direction he went down. In her side vision, she saw Caleb jump from the horse. He dove at her and succeeded in pulling her to the ground.
“Let go of me!” she screamed. As they struggled to their feet, she summoned all her rage. Her right fist smashed against his chin. She’d taken only a step when a hand grabbed her hair and yanked her back.
“My dear girl, my brother and I insist you stay close,” Askari said. He held her by the hair and dragged her back to his horse.
“Perhaps the other is still alive as well,” Sukata said. Askari forced her to look at his brother. “Is this true? Is your friend still alive?”
Tears spilled from her eyes. Askari turned her around and held her at arm’s length. He looked at her slowly, head to toe. His eyes paused on the necklace, and he fingered it with his free hand.
“Don’t touch me,” she screeched and tried to swat his hand away. With blinding speed, he grabbed her by the jaw. The rage that had strengthened her receded, and she grimaced in pain and revulsion.
“Be careful, I sense the core of me is hungry,” Askari said while he bound her hands in front of her. “We were told to bring you back alive, but nothing else.”
“It appears this trip might be more enjoyable than originally anticipated,” Sukata said.
Askari picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. His flesh had returned but she could see where the snake still moved beneath his skin. Her face came within inches of the bizarre parade of glistening diamonds on his back.
“Caleb,” Sukata called. “So which is it? Did you complete the task the Master gave you?”
“They were given more than enough poison to kill them,” Caleb said. He walked slowly toward Sukata. “If both or either are still alive, it is not because I failed. Something, or someone, is protecting them.”
“Then it was up to you to find their weakness,” Askari said.
As Caleb moved past, his eyes stayed on her. “Not everyone’s vulnerability is worn on their chest… marked in red.”
“It is not wise to play games in the company of Death,” Askari replied. His skin turned gray for a moment, and then the arrow appeared in his hands, dripping in blood.
If Corm is… was alive… then maybe Liam was, too. Please. She closed her eyes. Liam, where are you?
I am near, he answered.
Her eyes flew open. You’re alive!
Yes. Where are you?
She looked around. I’m at some ruins, not far from the camp with Caleb and two really dangerous men but… something tells me they think you’re alone. They don’t know about the others. We’re about to leave. They got C—
She felt him slip away.
***
“Wait!” Liam shouted. He brought Pollux about. “Two others have joined Ally and Caleb, but they have made the erroneous assumption Corm and I are traveling alone. I believe she is no more than a kilometer northwest of where we are.”
“And how do you know this, my friend?” Oisin asked.
“She is with me in here,” he said, touching his heart, “and here.” He pointed to his head. “I have an idea.” Could it work? He reached out, to let her know her message was received, but she was gone.
“Where exactly is she?” Oisin asked.
“I am not sure—”
“What is that?” Shane asked. A white shape clung to the top of a tree not far from where Corm disappeared.
Ian squinted. “It looks like… a kite.”
Chapter 34
Sukata looked to the road. “I hear a horse approaching and there is desperation in its speed. Caleb, join me!”
Askari returned the arrow to his quiver and flipped Ally from his shoulder. She landed rough, snug against the horn of the saddle. Before she could move to a better position, he took his place behind her. His chest pressed against her back and she cringed.
It will deliver hope when you need it most. The stone Tellervo gave her! It was in the zippered compartment of her bag so she wouldn’t lose it. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
“Wait!” she cried. “I forgot my—”
“Silence,” Sukata ordered.
They stopped a short distance from the road and remained hidden in the woods. Sukata held up his hand. “Wait until he passes.”
She drew in her breath to scream, but Askari covered her mouth and whispered in her ear, “If you make a sound, you will only succeed in alerting whoever is passing to our position, nothing more. If you remain silent, you will allow them to live… a bit longer.”
Through the trees, Pollux’s blurred shape raced by, a cloud of dust in his wake.
“That is the horse I mentioned earlier,” Caleb said, shifting nervously behind Sukata.
Askari held her around the waist, and they left the cover of the forest. She hoped to see Liam ahead of them, but all she saw was Pollux’s hindquarters as he disappeared around another bend in the road. The dust was burning her eyes and tickling her throat. Where was Liam going? Pollux was fast, but he couldn’t outrun these horses forever. The road
finally opened up and then, she noticed it. They all did.
Pollux was without a rider.
A whistle came from the bushes at the side of the road. Pollux skidded to a stop and spun around to face them.
“Seisahdus!” Sukata shouted and pulled on Catastrophe’s reins. Askari pulled Mayhem to a stop. His left arm held Ally tighter while his right hand released the reins and he reached behind him for his arrow.
Pollux swished the branch tied to his tail while he shook his head from side to side, and began to walk toward them. With each step forward, the two great horses took a step back. Ally’s mind scrambled. I need to get off this horse… now. But how?
That question was answered when Mayhem reared onto his hind legs. She tried to grab the horn, but instead tumbled backwards and hit the ground, landing on top of Askari. He released his grip, and that second was all she needed to roll away and get to her feet. As she did, Oisin ran in from the right, Ian from the left, and galloping up from behind were Shane—and Liam.
***
Liam recognized their adversaries. They were Shenfo, descendants of the serpents, and legend told of their powerful black magic. Ally’s message didn’t reveal their identity, though he was sure they did not exist in her world. But what were warriors of this caliber doing here? He jumped off Nyx, drew the sword, and ran to where Ally stood in the road.
“Ally, hold out your hands!” he called out as he ran.
She put them in front of her but he could see she was shaking. “Do not move!” he shouted. He prayed he would not wound her in his haste but the motion was instinctive, as if the sword was leading him, and he sliced the ropes around her wrists.
She put a trembling hand to her face. “Corm—”
“Please, stay here.” He could not be worried about her safety, or concern himself with Corm’s whereabouts, not if they hoped to get out of this alive.
Oisin raised his bow, his target was to be whoever was closest to Ally, and released an arrow. It sped through the air and entered the Shenfo’s chest to the left of the snake’s head, but it met no resistance. It was as if it had torn through a piece of parchment, nothing more, and exited through his back.
Unheeding of the attempt on his life, the Shenfo looked to the sky. His flesh turned gray, and then disappeared above his waist, exposing his skeleton. The specter now before Liam was the image born from nightmares, and he recoiled when the snake unwrapped itself from the demon’s ribs and slid into the air. A foul odor reached his nose—the stench of decay, the smell of Death. He looked to the other Shenfo. A two-headed dragon had revealed itself.
Shane released his arrow, but, as quick as it was, it did not possess the speed of the dragon’s heads. They parted, and the arrow passed cleanly through the blackness between the man’s ribs. “Ian!” Shane shouted. Ian leaped into the air, but lacked the time or space to react to the arrow that burst through the Shenfo; the missile found its place in his upper thigh.
Crying out, Ian fell to the ground. The Shenfo met Shane with a steady gaze. “My great friend, you have picked the wrong day for an ambush.”
“Aaah!” Oisin shouted, and charged the dragon.
“Is the wolf’s courage any match for the dragon’s fire?” the Shenfo asked in a gravelly voice. The dragon left the man’s flesh and became many times larger than the painted image. With one claw-like hand, the creature grabbed Oisin and lifted him into the air.
Liam’s gift was strategy, but the time for rational thought, for tactics, was over. He held the sword in front of him and rushed forward. He gripped the hilt tight and brought the blade up through the air, managing to cut the dragon’s flapping wing. Certainly not life threatening, but enough to free Oisin from its crushing grip, and he landed hard on the ground.
With an agility that rivaled Ian’s, the dragon turned itself around. Liam stopped, heart pounding against his ribs. The Shenfo narrowed his eyes and looked at the sword. “You are full of surprises, boy.”
***
Oisin’s scream pulled Ally from her stupor in time to see him smash against the road. When he sat up, his left shoulder was nonexistent, and his arm hung at an odd angle in front of him. With his right hand he picked up his bow and scrambled in her direction. Could this get any worse?
“Ian! Oisin!” Shane cried as he rushed toward Sukata. The dragon began to shriek. Its left wing hung limp, as if broken, and its smooth, leather-like skin merged with the scales that shielded the beast’s torso.
“Shane! Do not look into its eyes,” Ian shouted. It was too late. Shane had stopped his retreat, his body turned to stone.
Yes, it could, thought Ally in despair.
But then the dragon lowered its heads. Sukata winced and covered his ears with his hands. His jaw contorted unnaturally while he glared at the sword in Liam’s hand. “Brother! Get the sword!” he cried. “Caleb! Get the girl!” He fell to his knees.
The arrow in Askari’s hand changed into a long, black sword. He advanced on Liam, and the clanging of metal on metal reached Ally’s ears. Her rage renewed itself, twined around frustration. It was up to her. There was no one else. Before Caleb could get to her, she ran to Oisin.
“Give me the bow!”
Oisin handed it to her. “My arrows are useless against him,” he gasped.
“I don’t care. I have to try.” But even if the arrow traveled that far, she didn’t have a clear shot. Liam stood between her and Askari.
“The Shenfo have only one weakness, an Achilles heel,” Ian said, his hands around the arrow in his leg, the front of his pants soaked with blood.
“What is it?” she cried. Her hands were shaking as she tried to thread the arrow into the bow. And then, she remembered Caleb’s words: Not everyone wears their vulnerability marked in red.
The mark on the snake’s throat!
Caleb was headed in her direction. Behind him, Sukata removed one of the dragon’s long, sharp claws. His eyes followed Liam as he drew his arm back.
When he was nearly upon her, Caleb glanced over his shoulder. When he saw Sukata get to his feet, he changed course and ran toward Liam.
“No!” she screamed.
“Now, Ally!” Caleb shouted as he rushed past. The dagger-sharp claw flew end over end, through the air, and disappeared into Caleb’s back as he pulled Liam to the ground.
The bow was tight and she struggled to pull it back. She straightened her left arm and released the arrow. It fell to the ground a few feet away. No!
Oisin handed her another arrow. “I beg you, make this one count.”
***
Someone tackled him from behind and Liam fell, face first, onto the packed earth. The sword flew from his hand. He freed himself from Caleb’s grasp, rolled over, and blindly reached behind him.
A bony knee crushed his hand.
“The sword of Nuada. The Master will be pleased,” the Shenfo said in a low voice. He held his saber with both hands over his head, the tip of the blade centered over Liam’s chest.
The Shenfo’s black eyes penetrated his. “You will now meet Death, my—”
Whatever else he might have said never found voice. The Shenfo’s body now seemed frozen.
Liam turned his head. Oisin was handing Ally an arrow, but they too looked like Shane, as if they had turned to stone. Sukata was on his knees, his mouth open in a silent scream. Liam was about to slide his body from under the black blade when a cold, unwelcomed chill ran down his spine.
“Stay where you are.”
The man’s voice defied the unnatural silence. Liam looked to see who was addressing him, but the man advancing on him was as unfamiliar as the voice. His coat was black and, if not for the purple threads woven into the high collar or the silver buttons on his sleeve, he would have created a bottomless hole of the space he occupied. His piercing blue eyes sought to penetrate Liam’s soul.
“Askari was correct. You are meeting Death,” the man said, looking at the Shenfo, “but not in the way he imagined. Remain still. Any move on
your part might put you in contact with that blade. That would not be good for you. Or me, for that matter.”
The man reached into his coat and pulled out a dagger. Despite his compromised position, Liam did not fear the action.
The man turned the dagger over in his hand and held it out for Liam to see. Miniature skulls were etched into one side of the blade in excruciating detail. “Over the ages, this knife and I have sorted through the aftermath of many wars together,” he said. “I have had more than my share of ugly business, but I manage affairs of the flesh fairly. If I did not, those atop the likes of Catastrophe and Mayhem would rule the day. I am not able to take their lives, but I can choose to save yours. If I do not, I will be very busy indeed. The universe is infinite with possibilities, but there is only one certainty: There is no cheating Death.
“You have been trusted with a most difficult task,” the man went on, “one that spans two worlds. And it is one that has caught you unprepared. My half-brothers,” he motioned to the Shenfo, “have aligned themselves with a dark but powerful force whose purpose is to conquer and control these realms. Take this.” He handed Liam a small silver shield imprinted with a coat of arms… a human skull with a sundial in its center. “Without this, the girl’s arrow will arrive too late to save you.”
Liam took the shield and slid it under his shirt, centering it under the tip of the black blade.
“I am sure you realize the sword you carry is a powerful weapon. It was forged, in fact, to do away with me. But do not let the sword define the warrior. It has happened before with this blade.”
Liam blinked, and time had, once again, resumed.
“—half brother,” the Shenfo finally finished his sentence.
Liam looked into the Shenfo’s eyes and smiled as the sword plunged toward his chest.
***
Ally set the arrow and pulled back the bow. “Please-please-please,” she begged. “Hit the red spot… Kill that son-of-a-bitch!”
Double Star Page 26