“No, he didn’t.” She frowned. “I didn’t realize he was trapped.” She touched his forearm. “So that’s why you were bleeding when you reached the stable? He juiced your arm too.”
“Tell me you didn’t…” He cursed, grabbing her wrist and scanning for nicks or cuts.
“No.” She grimaced. “Do you think I’d let him near me with a knife? He bled himself.”
“Good.” He released her. “He required a blood oath before I released him. I couldn’t see past the illusion until we shared blood, but I’m sure I’ve missed some nuance of debt there.” He sighed. “At least one of us had the sense not to enter into an agreement with him blindly.”
“You had no choice.” She leapt to his defense. “If you hadn’t acted, then your colony would have lost their best chance at becoming self-sustaining and actually putting down roots, making this place a home instead of thousands of yards of canvas and tent poles. They would have lost their leader. Dillon would have lost his leg, if not his life.” Her cheeks flushed. “And I would have fulfilled my father’s fondest wish and become a First Court whore, albeit an amnesic one, which would have been a far greater mercy than he ever would have granted me.”
Old memories slid beneath his skin sharper than Aldrich’s blade ever was. His mental box rattled, but he kept the lid sealed and his thoughts closed. “Don’t talk to me about Archer.” Tremors worked through his hands. “Death was too light a sentence. He deserved much worse.”
Emma captured his hands and unclenched them so their fingers meshed. “You saved me.”
“It was too close.” He searched her face for signs she mourned her father or blamed him.
He found neither.
Light pierced his eyes, leaving him with red dots swimming in his vision. “What is—?”
“Aldrich.” She paused. “It looks like he picked up your mirror trick.” He heard the frown in her voice. “I swear I hear his foot tapping. He knows we agreed to wait for nightfall before getting any closer. I guess he can’t stand being alone with himself, either.”
Blinking to clear his sight, Harper said, “Come on, then. I’ll show you what I found.”
They crawled on their stomachs until they crested the dune. Wind roared in their ears, and with the sun glaring overhead, they were invisible, even if one of the raiders knew where to look.
“Look there.” He indicated the highest set of stones. “I count three leaned against the far side. Aldrich said they traveled in groups of four. There are four horses. We’re short one raider.”
“He could be on the other side, I suppose.” Her eyes narrowed. “As dark as the mine is, and as hot as it is, I’d bet they’re taking turns cooling down by sitting inside the entrance.”
“Not a bad bet for a city dweller.” His smile teased her. “I agree.”
“We can take them.” Her free hand tapped eager claws in the sand. “But how sure are you that we should take the tunnel? I’m not sold on Aldrich’s goddess says endorsement.”
“I’m sure. There are no other licensed mines in the area. Even though this mouth opens outside of the colony, it must be part of the same network.” He added, “If it makes you feel better, I doubt his goddess had much to do with it. Cities and roads are supported by magic, and he can sense that. My mine has magical reinforcement, but since this area isn’t on my property, I imagine only tendrils of that power remain.” He paused. “I’d be willing to bet that’s why he made the sacrifice. He could sense the network, but no entrance outside of the fortified area.”
“I much prefer your explanation.” She nodded, mulling it over. “So he can sense the raiders because they’re static pawns, blank spots, moving on a magically charged chessboard.”
He shook his head. Give Emma an inch of conjecture and she took a mile.
“Come on.” He tugged on her elbow. “It’s time to head back.”
Night drifted silently over the dunes. Even the wind shushed. I vibrated with anticipation. Months of battling injustice with a pen and paper had numbed my drive for retribution. This mad dash for the mine promised rejuvenation, a chance to exact justice with my bare hands.
Harper slipped a dagger in his belt, and I approved. I’d rather he be armed than caught unaware. I had everything I needed. Unsheathing my claws, I rocked on the balls of my feet.
“Are you ready?” Harper spoke from over my shoulder. In the frigid night, his body exuded delicious warmth I wanted to sink into. His hot breath on my neck made me shudder.
“Say the word.” I leaned against him. He allowed it for a split second, then withdrew.
I sighed. He must think I still needed space or time to make my decision. Granted, both misconceptions were of my own making. I had needed those things once. I didn’t anymore.
“Bloodthirsty.” Aldrich nodded. “It’s a commendable attribute.”
I resisted turning and glaring at him. For one thing, nothing I did fazed him. For another, if he wanted to act civil around Harper in an attempt to show me up, I’d return the courtesy.
“Thank you.” I addressed the dunes. “You know the value I place on your good opinion.”
Harper chuckled. I savored the sound, glad my wit entertained him.
“How will Aldrich know when we’ve secured the entrance?” I asked Harper.
“I’ll know,” he assured us. “You clear the path. I will have no trouble taking it.”
Our plan was simple. Aldrich would wrap us in his glamour long enough to reach the raiders. Beyond that, Harper and I needed no help. You didn’t survive in First Court for long if you couldn’t fight. He’d been raised Maddie’s guardian, and that title was not one lightly given.
As for me, I’d devoted my life to making her safe. That meant training with the best, with Harper. Then passing what I learned on to her. I was out of practice but wired on adrenaline.
“Move out.” Harper hit the same dune we’d climbed earlier. I kept back and to his right.
This time, when we crested, ice whispered on the winds and crackled on my skin. I glanced back and saw Aldrich’s lips moving. I understood this magic was more potent somehow. It suited me fine. Once we started down, I abandoned the careful steps Harper used and leaned back, throwing my weight into the downward slide. He caught on fast, and we stumbled to a stop together. I wondered if any sound would come out if I spoke, but I valued surprise over curiosity.
We circled wide and found three of the four raiders huddled on the same far side. Their horses pranced and tugged at their reins, sensing the magic rolling off us in waves. The trio turned as one and stared right at us. I froze. My heartbeat thundered in my ears in time with the horse’s stamping hooves. The male closest to us spat in my direction, but the illusion held.
My breath whooshed out on a relieved sigh. I spun, searching for Harper. When I turned back, his blade was drawn and at the male’s neck. A panicked heartbeat later, the chill lifted from my skin, and our invisibility cloak ripped free. I cursed as the raiders realized they weren’t alone.
Harper didn’t miss a beat. He fisted hair, wrenched, then he sliced exposed throat.
“What—” The raider’s sentence ended on a squelch of unformed syllables.
Shoving the body aside, Harper turned toward the next. His glamour dissolved, and wings clawed at the night sky. I held my breath. Or my lungs seized. Either way, I drew no oxygen as two males circled him. Harper was fluid muscle, midnight come to life, and I was enchanted.
One poorly aimed jab cost the second raider his life. Harper caught his extended arm, twisting it, driving his blade between his ribs and shoving high. Metal scraped bone and his scream pierced the night. The third male danced out of reach. Stay or go, his steps seemed to say. He lunged, and I gasped. Ice slashed down my side. I reached down, pulling back bloody fingers.
“I’ve been expecting you.” The fourth raider circled me. He licked his knife and winked.
I prodded my side, a flesh wound, a messy one at that. It served me right for losing focus. I smiled. It wor
ried him, I could tell. I’d be healed before his body cooled…after I killed him.
“There’s no reason why a lovely creature such as you has to get hurt.” He grinned.
I glanced over his shoulder. Harper circled his target. His third fight wouldn’t last much longer and my first had yet to begin. It figured I’d get the talkative one. I flashed him my bloody middle finger. I sighed when he didn’t get it. “It’s a little late to worry about me getting hurt.”
He shrugged. “Flesh wound, that is. You’ll survive fine if you surrender now.”
I guessed he should know. Tilting my head, I considered the fact he hadn’t lunged a second time or made another move. Did he expect me to crumple in the sand and cry for Harper?
I tested my theory, and sure enough, his eyes brightened when I staggered.
If I didn’t hurry up and provoke him, Harper would walk up from behind and snap his neck. All my pent-up energy would be wasted. I wanted results, so I clutched my side and knelt.
Once my knee hit sand, he was on me. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and jerked my head back so our gazes locked. In my peripheral vision, I noted the glint of moonlight on his blade. He pulled me to my feet and roots ripped free from my scalp. Bracing his arm across my chest, he planned to use me as a shield between him and the furious demon stalking our way.
Harper’s eyes were full black, and his lips narrowed in a grim line.
I sank my elbow into the raider’s gut. His knife arm rose, and I caught his wrist, broke it, and his blade hit the sand. Harper stopped, folded his arms across his chest, and watched. Suddenly, I was the pupil wanting very much to impress my teacher and earn a victor’s kiss. The arm across my chest jerked upward, catching me around the throat. Instead of the choreographed step, lock, twist and toss Harper had taught me, I went simple. It was tight, but I had little choice.
Playing to my strengths, I reached behind me, fisting one hand in the raider’s hair and the other in his collar, then shifted my hips as I lifted him up. Dropping to one knee, I flung him straight over my shoulder. His spine cracked on impact, and I winced for him. He hadn’t seen it coming.
He hadn’t realized I was a halfling, and how could he? The element of surprise—I had it.
I stood and faced Harper, waiting for the lecture I smelled coming.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at my broken opponent. “You let him cut you.”
“It was worth it.” I didn’t explain myself. I doubted Harper would appreciate how beautiful I found him in motion, all sleek lines and hard curves.
He rubbed a hand down his face. “You’re out of practice. City living has made you soft.”
“Some might agree.” I turned his earlier words against him. “But I enjoy it.”
“When this is over, you and I will talk.” His tone brooked no argument. “If nothing else, Dillon can meet you at the consulate once a week. There’s enough room to spar in your garden.” He glared at my opponent, then he turned and made certain the others had stayed down. “You’re a freewoman, Emma, and an acknowledged sister to the queen. You can’t lower your guard.”
He might have said more, but I stopped tracking past the point when he decided to loan me Dillon rather than invite me to visit him and train. My fingers curled, and instinct demanded I mark what was mine. Short of scratching my name in his skin, I had no clue how to brand him.
“Aldrich’s coming.” When he touched my arm, I jumped. “Move aside.”
The sled pulled up short, and the old priest’s gaze shot to my side first thing. A smile teased his mouth. I raised my shirt and showed him mended flesh. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“You didn’t give me time.” He sniffed. “I’m glad you’re well.”
I bet he was.
Surveying our mess, I said, “We need to get inside, deep as we can before the next patrol comes by and finds this.” If I’d thought of it, I would have requested burlap vegetable bags from my kitchen so our bundled food and supplies would be easier to carry.
“We have time.” Aldrich crawled from the sled and waited for us to do the heavy lifting.
Harper freed the horses, which I viewed as a sign of confidence. They wouldn’t have come into the mine anyway, and we couldn’t very well leave them tethered outside to dehydrate. Next came unloading the sled. Beneath a bucket of dried fruit, I found several folded sacks.
Isabeau. Always two steps ahead of me.
I stuffed the sacks full of food and water, making sure to pack all the medical supplies and anything else of value. Once I had the bags cinched closed, I used the leather reins to lash the bundles together and made myself an enormous backpack. We had few other choices, and I was, as much as I hated to admit it, the logical choice to play pack mule. “That should do us.”
“Let me help.” Harper made a grab for the supplies, but I staggered out of his reach.
“No. One of us needs to have their hands free in case we have company.” I shifted the pack when his chivalrous side threatened to make a reappearance. “I’m good. Let’s go.”
“Find solid ground and stay to it.” Aldrich scuttled onto a small rock and pushed back his robe. I knew what came next, and grimaced. For someone who said no sacrifice was necessary, the closer we got to the mines, the more willing to bleed he became in order to get there. Harper and I headed inside the mine so solid rock surrounded us on all sides.
Aldrich extended one arm and made his bloody offering. The hum he’d used this morning rose in his throat and reverberated in my teeth. I clenched them and watched. Nothing happened.
I twisted, about to suggest we abandon Aldrich to his ritual and start moving, when Harper tensed. I turned back. The body of the raider I’d fought with vanished beneath the sand.
I took a step, peering around the side where three more were being consumed.
Staring with complete focus, I saw a circular twist in the sand as it spun its meal down an invisible gullet for later digestion. My mouth fell open. Sand traps. I gaped at Aldrich.
He’d called them, and worse—they came. No wonder he said we had time. For all we knew, he’d picked off every static point on his grid. The notion chilled the marrow in my bones.
I backpedaled to Harper’s side. Together, we watched the sled upend and disappear. All traces of our journey vanished. If we never came out the other side, no one would be the wiser.
Aldrich crawled from his perch and marched past with his weathered cheeks stretched in a toothy smile. Harper and I exchanged a glance, then followed him into the belly of the mine.
Chapter Twenty
Aldrich shuffled ahead, well outside of the halo cast by Harper’s torch. The old priest hummed steadily under his breath, I assumed as a means of homing in on the strongest magic in the area, which should mean the straightest course to the colony. He tired with ease. Otherwise, I believe he would have led us straight through this maze and into the heart of the colony without a single stop along the way. As it was, we rested every hour or so and let him catch his breath.
He breathed heavily now. Crackling flame eclipsed some of his panting, but not all.
One misstep and he landed in a sprawl of limbs. When he pushed up and glared over his shoulder at us, his expression raged with an undetermined emotion, as if he, too, were frustrated by his body’s limitations. Without a word, he hauled himself onto a nearby rock and slumped.
He gave us no chance to help. I’m sure Harper would have. I would have held the torch…
“Does any of this look familiar?” I sat and pinned our supplies between my back and the wall, relieving me of its weight. I ached all over. There was strength, then there was endurance.
Harper swung his torch wide. It was one of three we’d stolen from holsters embedded in the rock. For now, it was the only one lit. His illegal lighter had come through for us yet again.
“No.” He sat next to me, facing the wall. “I’ll be the first to admit a tunnel is a tunnel without identifying marks. I can say wherever we ar
e hasn’t been used in a long time.” He wiped his fingers across a rocky nub. “What few markers I’ve seen are sweating off the walls. Depending on the moisture content of the area, that takes from six to twenty-four months.”
I tried putting into words what bothered me. “So it’s safe to assume no one’s been down here in a year at least. Not since you took possession of the property. If anyone else had a claim staked, they would have fought Nesvia when she deeded the land and its resources to you.”
“It’s a safe assumption.”
“Hmm.” I considered his timeframe. “And you didn’t recognize this location?”
“No.” His brow puckered in an unasked question.
I pulled an unlit torch from my pack and held it out for his examination. Understanding sparked in his eyes when I tapped the binding. The fabric wound around the metal core was stained a dirty amber color, but should be several shades darker after a year of exposure. I gave it a squeeze, and the oil shimmered on my hand—clear. Carrow oil was the most inexpensive oil used as lamp fuel. Since it hadn’t oxidized, I decided, “These torches were rebound recently.”
“We took them from the entrance.” Harper tucked the torch away and cleaned my hands. “It makes sense for the raiders to keep those fresh in case they ventured into the tunnels.”
Muscles in my back and thighs screamed as I shoved to my feet and crossed to the nearest torch and holder. I lifted it, examining the binding. It was aged. The charred tip fed into a reddish brown color that left flakes on my hands where I touched it. “I guess you were right.”
“You’re right to be concerned. We’ll keep an eye out for squatters as we go.” I turned and found Harper at my elbow. “Even if they did use these tunnels, they wouldn’t have rebound every torch. It would have taken days, and it would give away their location.”
Footsteps shuffled ahead. “It’s time.” Aldrich limped on after giving us fair warning.
His hum began again, filling the tunnel and ringing in my ears. I pretended to chew gum, hoping it would relieve the pressure. It didn’t. Once I gave up on ignoring it, I tuned it in and hummed along with him. If you can’t beat him, join him. He stuttered to a stop and glanced back at me. I stopped humming. Had I insulted him? For once, I hadn’t meant to.
Evermine: Daughters of Askara, Book 2 Page 17