Amazon_Signs of the Secret

by Ms. Becky J. Rhush

“Please. I know you are an Amazon. I’ve been waiting for nights, searching any Amazon who might cross my path.”

  “If he is her brother, why would he not help her himself?”

  “Gragore has already gotten to him. High ranking soldiers found him talking to the woman, and it was over just like that.”

  “Is he dead?” I asked, trying to move on as quickly as possible. Although the information surprised me, I still didn’t know if it were true or not, and so had no plans to dwell on it. My first goal was to get to Queen Perseathea.

  “He’s most probably dead. So please, let me pay my friend a last debt.”

  I gave a troubled sigh, thinking immediately of Sae-mond. “What is it you are called?”

  “Tythose.”

  “Alright Tythose,” I stretched out a hand, helping him to his feet. “I will take your word. But heed me well. If you are leading me into a trap, know this, I will kill you before they can gain control of me. I know they won’t kill me, Gragore needs me. I don‘t necessarily need you.” I shoved him back a pace to distance us. “Your life will surely pay for your lies.”

  “Take my sword.” He lifted his arms above his head, giving me free range over his weapon.

  I took a slow step forward, grabbing the hilt. Sliding his blade free, I took a quick step back, waiting. I’d never seen a soldier submit before, at least not so willing. Not since Sae-mond. And the likes of Gragore’s men, unwilling to his campaign or not, still stirred a pit into my stomach.

  “Now you have my blade and my word.” He said.

  I tossed his sword a stone’s throw away into some brush, then looked back to him. “Take me in.”

  He nodded and I followed, but to my surprise we went deeper into the trees, away from the fortress. Soon the fires were but a glow in the distance, and I could no longer feel its’ heat. Gripping my sword, I felt uncertain of Tythose. I felt uncertain of where he was leading me. But I had no other choice.

  “Here.” He halted, pointing to a withered tree trunk. Hunkering into the stump, he drug across the dirt with a scrape. Light beamed up from the hole. He glanced at me, dusting off his hands. "This way."

  Stepping down a row of chiseled steps, he lowered into the golden glow. Taking one last look around the dark trees, I followed. Once down the passage, I found myself staring. The walls were cut perfectly smooth. Soft gold sand glinted under the flickering torches, one positioned every five paces. The ceiling reached high, allowing the tallest of men to walk contentedly. Most strange, a scent of wildflowers floated the passage. I slid my finger along the wall as Tythose pulled the stump back over the entrance, blotting out the night sky.

  "Gragore spared no coin creating this tunnel." He answered my obvious intrigue, bounding back down the steps.

  “I’ve never seen one so lavish.” I said, touching a light finger to the sand wall.

  “Gragore desires the best for himself when running away from danger.” Tythose snickered, the tone of his voice implying his distaste for the warlord.

  “I can tell.”

  Tythose looked down the stretch of hall and into its’ bend. "Wait here.” He dropped his words to a whisper. “I’ll make certain it's clear."

  "Oh no.” I grabbed his arm before he took another step. “I’m going with you."

  Walking without a word, I followed behind the soldier, down the long passageway, around the bend, dust stirring up in the torchlight as went. The crackling of torches and whistle of wind were the only sounds circulating, until halfway in, when muffled voices pricked into my ears. The inaudible words floated down to us from above ground. We were passing under the fortress wall. But just as I adjusted to the sound, the skin on my arms lifted. A cold breeze had snaked over my shoulder, tightening my every muscle. Freezing me where I stood. I glanced over my shoulder. With that cold breeze came voices. But these were not above us. They were behind us.

  I grabbed Tythose’s by the arm, finding his eyes already in a bulge. Snatching my wrist, he whirled his head about in search of refuge, lunging us both into a run.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, out of breath.

  “I don’t know!”

  Not a hundred paces down, he halted. Standing there. Not saying a word. Looking at his feet.

  I glared at him, chest heaving. “What are you doing?”

  “Get down!”

  “What?”

  He dropped to his knees, yanking me down with him. He motioned to the rectangular cut at the bottom of the wall.

  “What?” I gasped. “We can’t both fit in there!”

  “We have no where else to go.”

  He shoved to his stomach in the dirt, the voices getting closer by the moment. We had no more than a few seconds before the approaching soldiers would turn the bend and spot us.

  “That’s two men, at least.” He warned, his eyes begging me, desperate.

  Without another word, he scampered into the crawl space. As far as he was concerned, I was now on my own if I didn’t follow. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw shadows stretching around the bend. I dropped to my stomach, clawing my way into the tight space.

  Everything went dark. No light shone in the hole. I squirmed in as far as I could, trying to hide my feet in under the wall. The voices were muffled now, but I could still hear them. Closer than before. I wriggled in tighter. My hair tickled in my stinging eyes. Dust sucked into my mouth, gritting on my tongue. In my teeth. I struggled to breathe, my chin mashed to the ground by the dirt ceiling, squashing me into the dirt like an insect. The darkness suffocated me. My air seemed to be thinning by the moment. And a bruising pain whelped against my hip. I quickly recognizing it to be a shard of Tythose’s armor, but had no way to squirm away from it. There was no room in the rectangular cut hole. Only dirt and darkness.

  So I went still. Quite. The voices were nearly on top of us now. I tried to make out the stranger’s words, but soon heard something else. Squeaking. Squealing came to life all around me as fur the size of a fist scurried beside my cheek. That one clawed up my shoulder. Another one wormed in between me and Tythose, fluffing past my hand. I gritted my teeth, knowing what the fluff was. Rats. Everywhere. Clawing and biting at me.

  “Listen…” Tythose whispered, giving a long pause. “I think they’re gone.”

  At his wriggling, I began worming back also, unable to get out of the cramped dirt fast enough. Emerging the sweaty crawl space, I lifted to my feet, pulling thick strands of dirty hair out of my eyes. Coughing. Dust layered my skin. Tiny points suddenly stabbed across my back. I reached around, clawing, stumbling. Scratching at shoulders. Tythose plucked the rat from me, tossing it to the ground.

  “A rat’s nest?” I growled, shaking out my hair. “That’s the best place for us to hide?”

  He shrugged, dusting himself off as well. “There was no where else. Rain drips in. That’s where it drains. Rats get in.”

  “Come on." I gave Tythose an impatient shove. "We’re losing the cover of night. We have to get to my Queen before sunrise."

  Chapter 56

  “Get ready.” Tythose side stepped down the wall, his arms outstretched, hands tracing the sand. “At the end of this, there is a dark turn off the main passage. When we take it, there will be one last corner hiding at very least one guard.”

  I bit my lip, sliding the wall behind him. Things were about to be set in motion, for good or bad, and since I stood as the object of the hour, I was really hoping for good.

  As I neared the turn, Tythose dipped out of sight and into darkness. I followed behind, creeping further into the shadows myself, and as I did, Tythose turned back to me. Putting a palm to hover at my chest. A silent warning. He then pointed to the last turn ahead. I replied with a nod, squeezing hard into my sword hilt. The good or the bad waited just around this last corner. Silent, we crept the last few steps in the dark, stopping at the edge of the turn. Waiting. Feet sinking inn the sand. With our backs to the wall, he eyed me, counting on his fingers. 1...2...3!

  He s
prung into the hall and I tackled after, both of us lunging into the soldier blocking the darkened doorway. Tythose maneuvered around the guard, clamping a tight forearm over his throat as he drug the man to the ground. I stood over the soldier, sword ready, glancing over my shoulder every other second as Tythose tightened his suffocating grip on the man’s throat, waiting out his fight for a last breath. After what felt like long, drawn out moments, the soldier at last went limp in Tythose’s arms.

  Looking up at me, Tythose pressed a finger to his lips. “Shhhh.”

  He pulled out from under the dead man, and after glancing over my shoulder one last time, I helped him drag the body to the corner. Pressing his ear to the splintered wood, Tythose held his breath. Listening. I waited too, my heart in my throat, holding my breath as well. Wondering if Queen Perseathea waited just beyond this door. Wondering if she truly was still alive. Wondering still, if this were a trap. I hadn’t known Gragore long, but what I had learned about him I had learned quickly, and I knew it was not beyond the warlord to sacrifice any number of his own men just to get to me.

  Grading the heavy door across the sand, Tythose cracked it just wide enough to peek his head in. Silent, he pulled back, stepping away from the door. I stared at him, waiting for an answer. Any sign. Still silent, he pointed to his chest then to the ground, gesturing that he would wait for me here and keep watch.

  I slid my blade as a guide into the darkness, so black it looked solid, then took a light step inside. The door slid shut behind me. The room was blacker than midnight. I stood my place, letting my eyes adjust. Trying to stifle the tremble in my sweaty hands. The dark smelled like perfume, like life, and soon, the heavy black gave way to sketchy dark figures. I stared, uncertain of any shape’s name, all except for that of the hanging flowers.

  “Who comes?” A whisper floated to me.

  I whipped around, my spine tingling as I searched the dark. I clenched my weapon, short breaths heaving my chest. I didn’t know if I should answer. I couldn’t identify the whisper, it had been too faint, and there was still the chance that Tythose had led me into a trap. So I stood like stone, not saying a word.

  “Tythose?” The whisper came again.

  I whirled to my other side, sword jabbed out. Ready. A silhouette darkened into shape a stone‘s throw away from where I stood. It took a pace toward me, and I turned to meet it with my blade.

  "Who speaks?” I sputtered out in warning. A long pause met my question.

  “Askca…?” The whisper cracked into a voice I recognized.

  “My Queen?” I slid my sword back into its’ sheath, then stretched out my hands, searching. A hug soon rushed me, surprising me. Holding me in tight. And I could tell me the spirals of the woman’s hair, the height of her, that it was Queen Perseathea.

  “Oh gods, Askca,” the Queen hurried out in one breath, “you can’t be here. He’ll find you.”

  “I know.” I pulled out of the embrace, gripping the Queen‘s shoulders. “We have to get out of here. Now.”

  “No.” She stopped me from moving. “You must get to Laidea, Bartamius, and the others first.”

  “But my Queen, Laidea did this so I could get to you.”

  “Listen to me, Askca. I know what Laidea was thinking. But we have to do things another way.”

  “But my Queen-”

  “The guards check on me. Often.”

  “But we killed the guard at the door.”

  “You killed the guard at that door. There are many more posted about and several come to taunt me by the hour.”

  “But-”

  “Askca, heed me please. There is much you do not know and I do not have the time to tell you. Just do as I order. The soldiers will know you’re here if I am gone. They’ve already figured out you’re not with the girls who were caught. You must get to them first. They should be in the dungeons.”

  “But I can’t leave you.” I pleaded, gripping her arms, scared to let her go. I suddenly felt like a scared child clinging to my mother. Afraid to be out of her sight, away from her shelter. The feelings hit me like a sack of rocks. I couldn’t lose another mother. “I can’t leave you, we’ve come all this way. I can’t!”

  “Askca,” she pulled me into another embrace, whispering her warm words into my ear, “if you want me to live, you have to.”

  “But Gragore-”

  “He won‘t kill me. Not yet.” She pulled away to look me in the eye. “Please, just get to the others, then come back for me.”

  I stood before her silent, feeling like a child whose pet had died and my mother must lie to comfort me. I knew without doubt that Gragore would kill Queen Perseathea if he realized was in the fortress. I knew it was only in waiting for my arrival that she had been kept alive this long. But, this woman is Queen of GarTaynia, my Queen. I must obey her command. So I surrendered.

  “Yes, my Queen.”

  "Askca! Soldiers are coming!" Tythose rushed through the door, stretching out his hands to guide himself and stumbled through the dark over to us. "They’re coming up the passage right now!"

  "What do we do?" I asked.

  "We have to go out the front. My only hope is that they are battling the flames rather than guarding this door." Tythose sprinted to the front door.

  “Please.” I turned back to Queen Perseathea, trying one last time. “We've come all this way."

  “I’ve come all this way for you and for Palius.” I felt her hand take mine, squeezing it. “He doesn’t want me. He wants you. So be brave, young warrior.”

  "Askca,” Tythose warned from the door, “we have to go now!"

  Chapter 57

  “Go! Now!” Queen Perseathea whispered the warning from the back door. I stared back at the voice in the black, but could no longer see anyone. A new line of light cut through the dark room now, with Tythose peering out of the front door.

  “Come on!” He grabbed my hand, busting the door wide open. Bolting us into the morning’s first light, the cold air hit my skin like ice water. We snaked through a maze of alleyways and corridors without stop, darting between stone edifices and a long row of stables. Once behind the bakery, we stopped for breath, the aroma of nut bread sweetening our air.

  “Do you think anyone saw us?” I panted, palming my knees.

  Tythose smoothed his back into the wall, chest heaving. “I don’t think so….”

  “Are we almost to the dungeons?” I asked in ragged breaths, cocking my neck to search every alleyway for nearby soldiers. I could still smell the burn of charred grass hanging on at the end of the sweet breads.

  Tythose nodded, his cheeks red with flush. “This way.”

  The rising sun colored the morning sky bright pink and orange, glowing down on the alleyways and spilling over the soldiers that paced the yard. The musk of smoke carried over the wall stronger here, bringing with it the hurried voices of men still battling the field flames.

  “Oh gods!”

  Tythose’s fearful whisper slammed into me as the man bolted to the nearest wall. I followed, slinking down next to him, leaning into a crouch against the mortar. I struggled to calm my smoke infected breath, staring at Tythose in question. He gave me no reply, instead edging to the corner of the edifice. Tipping his head around the edge. Snapping back, he dropped his head back against the mortar, air booming his chest. He definitely saw something.

  Crawling passed him, I snuck my own look, and a sting like a thousand needles pricked up my spine. Gragore. The warlord stood but a stone’s throw away from us speaking with a group of soldiers. I jerked back just as quick as Tythose had. Neither of us could make out the mumbles of Gragore’s conversation. I glanced back to Tythose, just in time to see him sneaking another peek of his own.

  I kept like stone against the wall, watching Tythose without a blink. He kept his back to me, watching for a goodly moment as my heart battered the inside of tight chest. I slipped up a slow hand, palming my amulet, wincing slightly as my elbow grazed my bound wound.

  When T
ythose snapped back again, his face paled, gleaming white with sweat. His chest sucked in and out like the bubble on a toad’s throat. I eyed him. What? I mouthed. He said nothing, pressing his back into the stones like he wanted the mortar to suck him inside. What! He wouldn’t respond, only turning whiter by the moment.

  I pressed flat against the wall, my own panicked breath now shuddering behind my ribs. I had a distinct feeling that this is where the bad was about to happen. I flitted my eyes about, searching a way of escape. A place to hide. My fingers squeezed into my hilt so hard they were cramping. That’s when Tythose decided to mouth his own silent words to me. He saw me!

  My knees buckled, then turned to jelly. Tythose tilted his head back to the wall, knocking it a few times in disgust. I put my eyes to the dirt, listening. A shrill of naying horses. More shouts on the wind. Mumbles of the men in the yard. All of it garbled into my ears, but none of it sounded like orders. Nothing came back to me proving that Gragore had spotted us.

  Tythose nudged me in the ribs, tipping his head in gesture toward the corner, signaling that he planned to check for Gragore again. No! I mouthed, blaring darts into him, but disregarding me, the man slid back over to the corner. I gritted my teeth, shouting in my head. Idiot! Let it pass! If Gragore is there, he’ll take your head off! Slow…. Heedful…. Tythose edged toward the corner. I readied myself to run, anticipating the young soldier being clubbed over the head. I eyed the alleyway to my left, away from Tythose, making certain it still stood clear.

  “He’s gone.” Tythose snapped his eyes back to me. “Come on!”

  We sprinted out again. Another jumble of corridors and alleyways. Past the blacksmith and the living quarters. Tythose halted behind another wall that looked exactly like all the others we’d stopped at. The fortress was beginning to look like a gray maze to me.

  “Are we to the dungeons yet?” I questioned.

  Tythose peered around another turn, eyeing two soldiers guarding an open doorway. I shoved by him, glaring at the two soldiers.