by H A Titus
"Well, don't stand there gawping."
I jumped and spun around. Larae stood a little way into the tunnel, grinning and carrying our weapons bundled together under one arm.
"Why isn't he with you?" Eliaster demanded, grabbing his swords.
"We made a deal. He'll uphold his end of it." She smirked, her flat violet eyes staring at Eliaster as if daring him to complain.
Eliaster's eyebrows arched, but all he did was nod. "Thanks."
Larae shrugged, and yelled up to Tuathal, "Remember our deal!"
The fae nodded.
I heard the others break into a jog, and I slowly backed after them watching Tuathal's face as I went. The fae looked right at me, and a nasty smile curled the corners of his mouth. A chill ran down my back. I got the feeling that he wasn't done with us yet. Not by a long shot.
Chapter 18
Half an hour's run from the cannibal fae's cavern, Eliaster called a halt. I leaned over, bracing my hands on my knees. My heart pounded. The adrenalin from our escape had burned out in the run, leaving me exhausted and jumpy.
We stood in a small pocket of rock, rubble sealing us in overhead. There was only one entrance and one exit, tunnels someone had dug through the boulders and braced with pieces of salvaged wood.
Larae hooked her thumbs under the straps of her backpack and glanced at Eliaster. "Why'd we stop?"
Under the glows of our flashlights, Eliaster's face was haggard. He scrubbed at the crusted blood under his nose. "Just give me a minute," he said, his voice tight. "I got beaten up pretty bad back there, in case you hadn't noticed."
"Yeah, and I also noticed it was because you thought you had to fight back." Larae crossed her arms. "It's your own fault, just like most of the mishaps on this quest have been."
Eliaster cringed. "Oh, and I was the one who broke into Blodheyr's loan office? That was my fault?"
"It got us here, didn't it?"
I sighed. As much as I wanted answers from Larae too, I knew this wasn't going to get us anywhere. I was about to tell them so when David spoke.
"Guys!"
His shout got Eliaster and Larae's attention. They both looked at him. He spread open his backpack, showing them the empty interior.
I dug into my messenger bag. I hadn't been carrying any food or water, but someone had stuffed the compact sleeping bag David had loaned me into one of the interior pockets, next to my computer. My phone was in the outer pocket where I'd left it.
"Crap," Eliaster said. "My stuff's gone too."
"So now I'm the only one with food and water?" Larae pressed a hand to her forehead and swore. "I had enough for a week for myself. With the three of you sharing my supply, we'll be lucky to last three days for food. Who knows how fast we'll burn through the water."
Eliaster rubbed his nose again. His shoulders slumped, and he stared at the ground, cradling his head in one hand.
"We'll just have to go back," David said, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. "We'll have to get more supplies from Aifric and try again."
"We can't," Eliaster said. "Didn't Llew's attack on Josh in Chicago tell you anything? They're right on our tail. We have one shot at this. Otherwise, Blodheyr gets the relic."
"At this point, who cares?" Larae demanded. "Let them have their stupid relic. We'll figure out some other way to stop the Lucht Leanúna. We should go back to Springfield and try to save Marc, like we should have done in the first place."
"No." Eliaster stood. "We have to keep going."
David and Larae glared at him. I twisted my bag's strap in my hands.
"If we turn tail now, we'll have thrown away days of work. We need to see this through. We have to try to find the relic."
"Two days," David said, holding up the first two fingers of his right hand. "If we don't find this relic in two days, we're going back and resupplying. I don't care if Blodheyr's goons are so close we can touch them, the limit is two days."
"Fine," Eliaster muttered. "Dywor will be able to find it…where is Dywor?"
I looked around. In the intensity of the argument, no one had noticed the sniffer's absence.
"Stupid rager!" David muttered, shining his flashlight down the entrance to the cave.
Dywor stood about ten feet away at a crossroad, staring into a side tunnel. He raised a hand toward us, palm outward. Eliaster motioned for us to be quiet.
Dywor closed his eyes and drew in a long breath through his nose. After a pause, he turned to one of the other tunnels and did the same thing. He shuffled a few steps toward the original tunnel and took another deep breath.
His eyes opened, and he glanced at Eliaster. "Not just rocks and dust and charcoal and fae anymore. There's a new scent. An otherworld scent. I haven't smelled anything like this in ages."
"Think it's our relic?" Eliaster asked, voice tense and eager.
Dywor's eyes flickered from Eliaster to Larae, and he pursed his lips. "Maybe. Haven't caught a whiff of Tir Ni-all in any other place." He went deeper into the tunnel, his flashlight playing on the rocky walls.
"Then this is our best bet." Larae nudged Eliaster's shoulder as she stepped past him. "I'm sorry."
Eliaster grabbed her arm. "Don't lie to me."
She shoved him away, eyes flaring in a blaze of violet. "Don't touch me!"
Eliaster released her arm, glaring at her back as she followed Dywor. He sighed and walked after her.
I stepped down carefully into the tunnel. Eliaster had the flashlight aimed forward, so I could hardly see the rocks under my feet. I took a step forward and my toe caught under the lip of a rock. I crashed into the uneven ground, my bag digging into my gut.
"You okay?" David asked, holding his hand out.
I hiked myself to my feet, and checked my computer again. It was fine. "What's another bruise or two?" I pulled out my phone next. The glass screen had several big cracks across its face. I hit the lock button, but the screen remained dark. I groaned and dropped it back into the front pocket. "Let's get moving."
"Keep your sword close," David said, walking beside me. "I don't trust that rager."
Don't worry. I don't trust anyone.
#
Eliaster stopped, holding up his hand. The rest of us stopped, though Dywor shuffled forward a few inches and made a funny, whining sound that sounded like an old computer connecting to the internet.
We'd been walking for who knew how long, and my feet were aching even when I just stood in one place. For a moment we were all silent, and I strained my ears for any sound. Had he heard someone following us? Were the cannibals breaking whatever promise their leader had made to Larae?
"What?" Larae asked.
"Ssh." He leaned to one side. "We’re being followed."
Larae bent her head, biting her lower lip. After a few seconds, she said, "I don't hear it, Eliaster."
"It's stopped now. But we were being followed."
Here we go again. Barely a week around the guy, and I already recognized that stubborn set to Eliaster's jaw. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms.
"Maybe," Larae admitted. "But maybe you're being paranoid. Tuathal gave me his word."
Eliaster tilted his head to the side, looking at her out of the corners of his eyes. "Right. Because every cannibal out there has an impeccable sense of honor. Sounds legit."
She sniffed and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder.
"Just what was your deal with him?"
"That's between the two of us."
"We need to know, Larae."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not going to move one more foot until you tell us what your deal with Tuathal was." Eliaster crossed his arms.
She glared. "Could you be more childish?"
"The whole thing was too easy. He didn't even try to bargain, which means you offered him something he couldn't resist. As your partners, I think we have a right to know."
David snorted. "That's rich, coming from you, Eliaster. You haven't let us know much of anything
this whole time!"
"Great timing, by the way, guys," I said. "I'm really glad we're doing this now, possibly with a pack of cannibal fae on our tail and barely enough food to make it back out. This is a great time to start fighting."
"If you had an objection, Josh, you should've spoken up back when we discovered our food was missing," Eliaster snapped.
Hello, pot, meet kettle. Kettle, pot. Does he even realize how hypocritical that statement is? I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to make Eliaster even angrier.
The entire conversation, Dywor had been circling around the group, nose in the air. He stopped beside Eliaster. "Don't smell anyone. Can't smell anything but the Otherworld smell now." He darted to the front of the group, started forward, then came back to Eliaster, then started forward again.
Was the guy part hound dog?
Eliaster and Larae ignored the sniffer, their eyes focused on each other. In the dim light, I could see Eliaster's eyes flooding with different shades of green.
"I'm going to lose the scent if we don't get moving," Dywor warned. He stood several feet away, twitching.
"Well, there's your chance," Larae said. "You wanted to find that relic, and we're close now."
Eliaster looked from Larae to him, rubbing his cross necklace. His eyes darted back and forth around the group.
He looked like a cornered animal, and I noticed that his free hand hovered near his sword.
After a moment, he shook his head and walked after Dywor.
Larae stared at his back with flat, steady violet eyes, her hands clenched.
We plodded forward. The dust we raised as we walked made the inside of my mouth and my nose gummy. I glanced over the group. Larae and David's eyes were both red-rimmed, and Eliaster's shoulders slumped forward. What time was it? I started to rummage in my bag, then remembered that my phone was broken anyway.
The rubble underfoot was smaller than the huge boulders we'd been navigating earlier. Only the possibility of spraining your ankle, not snapping your leg off. Small comforts, I guess.
Dywor picked up speed, turning into a side tunnel that wound upward. "It's close!" he hissed. "So close—I can almost taste it!"
We scrambled behind him. Eliaster tried to hold the flashlight steady, but it bounced and danced, giving us only glimpses of Dywor and the rest of the tunnel in sharp, jerky movements.
"That's going to make me sick," Larae muttered behind me.
The last bit of the incline was the worst—it was so steep we were scrabbling up with our hands. Rock shards and bits of debris kicked and tumbled down the incline behind us, loosened under our feet, made us slip and slither backward.
Dywor sprang forward, his twitching even more pronounced. He scrambled up the lip of the ledge and straightened, breathing deep. "This is it!"
We scrambled up beside him, keeping our lights on the ground directly in front of us. There was a deep, inky darkness in front of us. It felt—different—somehow. Different than the close darkness of the tunnel. It felt huge. Instead of echoing back to us, Dywor's voice faded away.
"Keep together," Eliaster instructed, putting a hand on one of his swords. "It feels like a big chamber. No telling what's waiting for us in there. Dywor?"
Dywor wandered out of the flashlight beam, his head held high again.
"Dywor, I just said—"
Brilliant lights snapped on, flooding the cavern. I ducked my head, yelping at the sharp stabbing pain to my eyes. The rest of the group ducked with moans of protest.
I squinted my eyes open, my hands flung in front of my face to block the piercing light.
Ten goblins stood not far away, watching us, swords and spears brandished.
Rocks crunched behind us. I looked over my shoulder. Llew, the ponytailed Unseelie, and several other fae stood behind us. And towering over them, the troll, Scyrril. He stepped up into the cavern, so close that I could feel his moist breath hit my face. My gut clenched, and the acidic bite of bile hit the back of my throat. I backed away and noticed the others doing the same.
Eliaster and Larae drew their weapons.
"Drop them!" Scyrril shouted, advancing on Eliaster, his huge scythe-like sword swaying back and forth in front of him. The scales on his forearms rustled as he flexed.
"Why didn't you warn us?" Eliaster yelled at Dywor.
The rager smirked and pointed at Larae.
Larae whirled and sliced her knife across Dywor's throat.
The sniffer's eyes bulged as he grabbed at his neck. Blood gushed between his fingers, and he dropped to the ground, choking.
I stared at him in shock. What was she doing? Why…? In a flash, I recalled her flirting touches and glances with David and me. She'd been lowering our guard, getting us to trust her so Eliaster would stand alone in his dislike of her. So we'd dismiss his caution as paranoia.
I should've known better.
"Get out, Josh!" Eliaster jumped back, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Scyrril's sword.
I looked up. David stood between me and the other fae, gun and knife drawn. Scyrril and Eliaster were already off to the side, their weapons clanging as they struck and broke apart. Larae stepped in front of me and smirked. I knew she was baiting me, but I drew my sword and planted my feet shoulder-width apart. No, Eliaster, I am not going to run like a coward. "So answer me one question, Larae."
She laughed. "Really? You're gonna go with the snarky banter?"
I shrugged. "Why not?"
Her smile was frigid. "You're kind of sweet, so I'll humor you."
"Stop talking and run, you moron!" Eliaster yelled.
Scyrril was backing him toward the wall. He was trying to get to me, but every time he tried to dart past the monster, Scyrril's blade swept out. Eliaster threw his blade up to block another blow, and the troll shoved him hard. Eliaster staggered and fell to one knee, then was up again like a shot.
I pulled my attention back to Larae. She was standing an arm's reach from me, her bloody knife clutched in one hand, that stupid smile still on her face. Her eyes were that flat purple again, and I realized that it was that look that had bothered me when Tuathal let us go. Her emotions should have been running high then, and I should have been able to see it in her eyes, but there had only been that flatness to them.
A sharp, hot spike of rage broke through my calm. "What was your oh-so-convenient 'deal' with Tuathal?"
She laughed. "Oh, that? It was too easy. He pretended to be frightened of me holding a knife to his throat so I could fool you and Eli. In return, I promised him Marc and you, as well as a dozen other humans."
She lunged. For a split second, I thought she was nuts to engage a sword with a knife. As I shifted to catch her strike, I felt a foot hook around my ankle.
I hit the ground hard. The fall slapped the air from my lungs. My sword jumped out of my numb hand and went skittering away over the rocky ground. David laughed. I rolled, starting up to my feet, looking for him.
Larae's boot connected with the back of my knees. I caught myself with my hands. Another kick in my ribcage sent me rolling. I swept my hands under my body and pushed up. Her knee slammed into my back, driving me down. She pressed her pistol into my temple.
"What are you doing?" Eliaster's voice was as cold and hard and sharp as the pebbles biting into the side of my face.
I squinted open one eye. He stood with his back to the wall, both swords out, glaring at David and Larae. Llew and Scyrril both stood close, hemming him in, but he wasn't even paying attention to them. Llew was still limping a little. I smirked at that as I shifted my left hand, feeling for my sword.
"Drop the swords," Scyrril snarled, edging forward with his blade extended.
Larae's other knee came down on my elbow. "Listen to him, Eliaster."
He laughed. "Right. Good try, vixen."
She pressed the pistol harder into my temple. I grunted as pebbles dug into my skin, a half-dozen little points making jagged cuts.
"Really, Eliaster, did you not expect me to notic
e your new pet project? It's not everyone who gets a personal recommendation for one of Opti's swords. Let's stop pretending, shall we?"
A click sounded next to my ear, rattled through my brain. It put another crack in my mental wall, and fear sent a cold shudder down my body. I clenched my hands, squeezed my eyes shut. Please don't let me die this way. Please…
"You have five seconds before your little genius becomes a little vegetable. One…"
Eliaster white-knuckled his swords.
"Two…"
My chest squeezed tight. Why wasn't he dropping them?
"Three…"
I cringed.
"Four…"
Eliaster growled under his breath and threw his swords on the floor. "Happy?"
The pressure on my temple eased a little, and I could breathe again.
"Better," Larae said.
David grabbed Eliaster's arms and shoved him to his knees. Llew grinned and gestured to one of the goblins. It tossed him a length of chain, the links clanking as Llew caught it.
Eliaster clenched his hands, his lips twisting in a grimace. "You're cruel, Larae."
I felt her shrug. "You should know by now that I consider that a compliment."
Llew clamped the shackles around Eliaster's wrists. Eliaster's face turned a sickly pale grey, and he gritted his teeth. He slumped forward, catching himself with shaking arms.
Iron shackles.
"Eliaster!" I yelled, pushing against the ground.
Llew moved away from him, snickering.
Larae shifted her weight off me, but kept the gun pressed against my back. "He'll be fine. Sit up."
I obeyed. David reached down and jerked me to my feet, kissing Larae's cheek as he did so. "Way to go."
"So much for thinking humans have to stick together," I muttered. "Sell out."
David ignored me.
For the first time I got a good look around me. The cavern was large, though not nearly as big as the cannibal faes' main cavern. Several tents and stacks of crates were scattered along the side walls, leaving the center of the cave clear. Now that Eliaster and I were restrained, the goblins lowered their weapons and dispersed, going back to several crates that lay open and half-unpacked near the back of the cavern.