Cursed

by Sue Tingey

  The golden rays flared for a moment before burning a bright orange, turning to scarlet then darkening to purple.

  “What’s happening?” the Sicarii said, snatching his hand back from the light and stumbling backward away from the gateway.

  The lamps around the cavern flickered and flared as a swirling breeze surrounded us and a weird crooning noise spilled out from inside the slit, getting louder and louder until I felt like covering my ears. The sound stopped as quickly as it started, but it was the lull before the storm; black shapes began to slip out from the now almost black hole. As sinuous as shadows, they slid toward the nearest Sicarii, engulfing him within moments. When the Sicarii had all but disappeared amongst the shadowy mass, he began to scream—and it was a scream more awful than anything I had ever heard.

  The other four Sicarii backed away, then one’s nerve broke and he turned to run. Before he had even gathered speed, he too was surrounded by the terrible chattering shadows and began to scream as they pulled him into their midst.

  I felt hands take mine; Jamie to my left, Jinx to my right. I was glad of the comfort; I didn’t think things were going to get any better, at least not for the Sicarii, as more of the dark phantoms poured from the entrance and overwhelmed the remaining gray-clad assassins and their screams joined the echoes of their comrades.

  The minions had seen enough—they all bolted this way and that, making for the nearest exits to the cavern. They needn’t have worried; the shades had got what they had come for. They began to retreat back through the hole, taking their captives with them. Once or twice a gray-covered head, foot or arm erupted out of the shadowy masses, but they were soon resubmerged beneath a blanket of pulsating black and hauled through the entrance into the world beyond. As soon as the last shadowy mass had disappeared inside the hole it snapped shut into a thin line and receded at either end until all that was left was a small dot of black, and then it was gone.

  I swung around to face Amaliel Cheriour, but he too had lost his nerve. He was stumbling backward toward the main exit, Kayla still in his grasp. She was kicking and struggling against him to no avail.

  Jinx and Jamie started after him just as he reached the passageway. “Stop right there,” Amaliel shouted.

  “Release the Lady Kayla,” Jinx said, “and we will give you a chance to do the honorable thing rather than face your execution in shame.”

  “Fool,” he spat. “You’re a fool if you think this over: I still have the child. This one, however, is no longer of any use to me.” He put a palm on Kayla’s forehead and pulled back her head. “Say goodbye Lucky,” he said, and drew the blade across my friend’s throat.

  A blue band that for a second could have been a sapphire necklace instantly appeared across her neck. Amaliel shoved her toward us then turned and ran. Jinx was after him in a heartbeat.

  “No!” Vaybian shouted, struggling against the ropes with the little strength he had left.

  “Kayla!” I screamed, sprinting across the cavern to drop down beside her crumpled body. I lifted her head onto my lap as she clutched at her ruined throat, trying to staunch the gush of blood flowing between her fingers and saturating the front of her gown. “Kayla, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”

  Her lips moved and blood seeped out of the corners of her mouth. “Keep you … safe,” they said, though she didn’t utter a sound. “Never leave you.” Her eyes fluttered shut. “Never leave …” and with one final, harsh breath, she did just that.

  Fifteen

  I was past tears, and unaware of everything except for her. I sat stroking her hair while Jamie cut Vaybian down and sat with the both of us as we mourned our loved one.

  Kayla, my constant companion for most of the past twenty-five years, was gone, and as her heart had fluttered to a stop, I could swear I had felt her physically wrenched away from me. Inside I was numb, cold and empty like there was a void where my heart should be.

  Jinx and the others returned. Jamie looked up at him and Jinx shook his head. My pain was compounded: they had been unable to catch Amaliel.

  “We’ll take her back to the palace,” Jamie eventually said, “it’s only right she has the state funeral she deserves.”

  “We will find him, won’t we?” I said. “He will pay for this?”

  “He will pay,” Jinx said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “And then some.”

  “I wonder where Henri was while all this was going on—do you think he’s got the child?” Kerfuffle asked.

  “Poor little thing,” Shenanigans said, “she’ll be scared to death as it is, let alone being left alone with that creature.”

  “We’ll find her, but first we need to take Kayla’s body back to her father,” Jamie said.

  I nodded in agreement. Jamie was right; Baltheza deserved that at least.

  We laid Kayla out gently in the back of the cart and covered her with skins while Vaybian followed. He was barely able to walk or concentrate. Shenanigans and Kubeck harnessed up two of the bulls and tied the other two to the back of the cart.

  “We couldn’t leave the poor creatures to starve,” Shenanigans said.

  They had also saddled up the four horse-like creatures from the stalls behind the paddock. “There were at least two others stabled here,” Kerfuffle said.

  “Amaliel probably made his escape on one,” Jamie said, “and Henri would have taken the other.”

  I eyed up the creatures. They were a lot bigger than the horses we had at home and each had a short, stubby horn on their snout.

  “Me, Vaybian, Kubeck and you will get up on these beasts,” Jinx said, “if you think you can manage it,” he added gently to me. “Shenanigans and Kerfuffle will ride on the cart.”

  “I keep telling you, I can’t ride.”

  “Yes, but you have since ridden on Pyrites and Bob, and this is not so different.”

  “I was with you on Bob.”

  “Well, today you can have your first solo riding lesson.”

  I shrugged; I would try it. I had faced too much to be afraid now. As it happened, the gentle warmth and the trotting gait of the huge beasts wasn’t so bad, and staying in the saddle kept my mind off Kayla for a while. The distraction was probably why Jinx had insisted I ride the creature rather than Pyrites, who padded along beside me. Kayla was always there though; as soon as my mind wandered for even a second, she was back and the pain of losing her washed over me, filling me with despair.

  Jamie had been right, I thought. If Kayla had died before I’d got to her, I would have known it. I certainly felt as though a part of me was missing. Maybe it was a bit like Peter Pan losing his shadow? I had heard the expression that someone was “heartsick,” and it was a pretty good description of how I felt: tired, beaten and drained of any emotion other than misery.

  We made camp just outside the Forest of Dignus. I soon discovered that, after all that had happened—the highs, the lows, me lost and found twice, and Kayla’s murder—we were all more than a bit overwrought, and in my case the numbness I’d been feeling immediately following Kayla’s death and most of the day was turning into a bitter anger: Amaliel hadn’t needed to kill her. It was pointless, so fucking pointless.

  Of course, then Vaybian just had to open his big mouth.

  We were sitting around the fire when I asked how long it would be before Kayla’s funeral took place.

  “It’ll be a big affair so a few days, possibly a week,” Jamie told me.

  “That long? We need to find Amaliel,” I said, massaging the bridge of my nose.

  “So that’s that then,” Vaybian said with a sneer. “Kayla’s dead so we can forget her?”

  “That’s not what I said, Vaybian.”

  “That’s exactly what it sounded like.”

  “You know something? You can be a complete arse at times,” I said.

  “And you can be an unfeeling bitch.” The words were hardly out of his mouth before Jinx had his hand twisted in Vaybian’s long green hair and was glowering int
o his face.

  “Take that back,” Jinx said, his voice low and mean.

  “Jinx, it doesn’t matter. Forget it,” I said, sick of the whole thing.

  “I said, take it back,” Jinx said, ignoring me.

  “Or you’ll do what?” Vaybian said, glaring back at him. “Kill me? Do it, go on, do it. You might as well; I’ve nothing left I want to live for.”

  I laid my hand on Jinx’s arm. “Please, let him go. He’s hurting too.”

  Jinx gave me a snarly look and then, with an angry grunt, let go of Vaybian and pushed him away. “You disrespect Lucinda and you disrespect me—remember it, because next time I will not be told to leave you be,” then he gave me another angry look and stalked off.

  I watched him go off into the dark, then I started to get upset and angry, and the tears I’d been bottling up started to flow and then I really lost my temper and jumped to my feet to go after him.

  “Lucky—” Jamie said as I went to storm off, then he saw my face and went quiet. Just as well.

  I grabbed one of the lamps hanging from the side of the cart and walked into the trees after Jinx. At first I thought I’d lost him, then I saw his back as he strode away from me.

  “Jinx,” I called but he ignored me. “Fine,” I said to myself and carried on after him.

  He was walking fast so I started to run. He was angry, but I was angry too, and like him I wanted to take it out on someone. Quite how him defending me from someone else’s insults had suddenly become a fight between the two of us I had no idea, but then I guess neither of us was thinking rationally. I know I wasn’t.

  He disappeared into the forest again, but I wasn’t about to give up, and then I burst into a clearing. Jinx was sitting on a fallen log at the far side.

  I slowed from a run to a march and walked around the log to confront him, placing the lamp on the floor beside us.

  “What was that all about?” I said, impatience tingeing my voice. He gave me a narrow-eyed look and turned away to stare across the clearing. “For goodness’ sake!” I shouted.

  He very slowly turned his head until he was staring me right in the eyes. “How many times must I tell you what it means to be marked by me?”

  “Jinx, this is a crock of macho shit.”

  “Really?” he said, jumping up so we were face to face.

  “Yes, really. And I don’t need it right now …” My voice cracked and I had to look away.

  “Lucinda,” he said, more gently.

  “Lucky—I prefer Lucky,” I said.

  “I prefer Lucinda,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me to face him.

  “I don’t want to fight with you,” I said, all my anger draining away. I fought to control my feelings. Kayla was gone; Kayla was really gone.

  He reached out to brush the hair off my brow. “Do you know I’ve never been involved with a woman who can stir up my emotions so easily?”

  “Well, I guess it must be a two-way thing, because sometimes you make me so angry I could thump you, and at other times …” I trailed off. Telling him that sometimes I wanted him so desperately it physically hurt wasn’t going to do much for my dignity.

  “Do you want me to let you go?” he said, and his eyes dropped away from mine as he stared at the forest floor beneath our feet.

  “What! I thought you asked me never to do that?” He looked up at me and I felt sick. “Do you want me to? Do you want to be free of me?”

  He took a shuddery breath and looked up at the sky. “I don’t want to, but what I want doesn’t really matter.”

  I was confused. Was he dumping me? Was he telling me I was too much hard work? “Jinx,” I said. “Tell me what you want. Tell me how you feel, or how can I make any sort of decision?” I really did not want to be having this conversation right now. I’d lost my best friend and now it looked as though I could be losing a lover before we even took that first step.

  He kept his eyes looking down away from mine. “I … I find myself in a most peculiar circumstance.”

  “Speak bloody English why don’t you,” I said getting angry again. “Are you telling me you lied before? Are you telling me you don’t want to be with me?”

  His head jerked up. “No. No. What I said before was true. I … I—”

  “You what, Jinx?”

  “I …” he turned his face away, his lips tight, then looked me in the eyes and took hold of my hands. “I cannot bear to lose you, and I’m scared that I will because of who I am.”

  “What? Why would you think that?”

  “I am the bringer of death and darkness and endless night. All the things you fear. Why would you want to be consort to a creature such as me?”

  “You’re also kind, gentle and funny and I … I love you far too much for it to be good for me,” and I had to look away as I couldn’t bear to see his expression.

  He was silent for a few moments. “And what about James?” he asked, his voice low and gentle.

  “That’s the problem,” I said with a hysterical half sob, “I love him too. I love you both. I love you both so very much.” There, I’d said it. I’d actually said it.

  A hand rested on my shoulder and squeezed before lips touched my neck and a second body pressed up against my back and encircled me.

  “Well,” Jinx said, his voice a breathy exhalation, “I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out.”

  “So am I,” Jamie whispered. I glanced to my right and got a face full of blond curls as Jamie nuzzled between my head and shoulder.

  We stood for a few moments in the silence, and it felt as though a little piece of my heart had healed, then Jinx shifted.

  “I suppose I’d better get back to camp and apologize to that jackass Vaybian,” Jinx said.

  “I wouldn’t,” Jamie said, coming up for air, “I gave him a talking to as well and I’m certainly not going to apologize.”

  “He’s hurting Jamie. Just imagine it were me who had died.”

  “Don’t,” Jinx said, “I can’t allow myself to even think of it.”

  “Nor I,” Jamie said, and I could feel my eyes welling up again at the thought of losing either of them.

  “When we find Amaliel I’m going to kill him,” I said.

  “Leave that to me,” Jinx said as he turned to walk back to the campsite, “I bring death, you look after the dead and dying.”

  When Jinx had gone, Jamie turned me around to face him. “It’s all right to cry you know.”

  “I didn’t see her spirit, Jamie. Why didn’t I see her leave?”

  “Maybe because you were too close to her. Maybe it’s different for you when it’s your own loved ones.”

  “He didn’t have to kill her. Why did he do it?”

  “To hurt you. To hurt us. Amaliel likes to cause pain, and as he couldn’t hurt you physically, he hurt you in the only way he could.”

  “I hate him,” I said resting my head against Jamie’s chest. “I hate him so much.”

  When Jamie and I got back to camp we ate, but not a lot, and drank maybe a bit more. Shenanigans apologized for having no wine and only ale, but it was probably just as well; I’d only get maudlin if I had too much wine. No one spoke much, and when they did it was in hushed voices—although most of my guard hadn’t particularly liked Kayla, none of them would have wished her dead. It was a relief when we all curled up to go to sleep. For me though, sleep was elusive.

  In the end I gave up and went to sit on one of the logs by the dwindling fire, feeding it with a couple of small branches Kerfuffle had collected earlier.

  As I stared into the flames with nothing else to do but think, I thought of Kayla. I glanced toward the cart where she lay and felt the anguish building up in my chest again. I had to take a few deep breaths—I didn’t want any of my friends to wake and find me sobbing my heart out, not that they would think badly of me if I was, but I just didn’t want them fussing.

  I poked at the fire with a stick, causing orange and red sparkles to fly up, a
nd remembered how, as children, Kayla and I would curl up together on the sofa in front of the hearth, and she would tell me wonderful stories of dragons and their treasure, and dwarves mining for jewels in deep and dangerous caverns. I loved those stories.

  “Well,” said a voice. “Here we are once more.” It was a voice I knew; it was a voice I loved, and I had thought I would never hear again. I nearly cried out, but swallowed it just in time—I wasn’t ready to wake the others.

  There she was, sitting on the log next to mine. “Kayla!”

  She gave me a smile. “Ironic don’t you think? For all those years I pretended to be a ghost and now I truly am one.” She wound one of her long green curls around her finger. “How fortunate that I won’t have to spend eternity with a shorn head,” and the vipers in her hair hissed their agreement.

  “Oh, Kayla,” I said, shifting over to sit beside her and wishing with all my heart I could give her a hug. “Why haven’t you moved on?”

  “I said I wouldn’t leave you, silly, and that’s a promise I intend to keep. Anyway, I want to see that snake Amaliel get his comeuppance.”

  “You’re not alone,” I said. “We’ll go after him when we know where he’s gone—and we’ll make sure he gets what he deserves.”

  “Where do you think I’ve been? I wasn’t about to let the scumbag out of my sight.”

  “You know where he is?”

  “Hiding out in the last place anyone would expect. He’s gone back to the palace.”

  “Is he mad? Baltheza wanted his head on a plate before and when he finds out what he did to—” I bit my lip.

  “Hey,” she said, “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere soon.”

  “But one day I’ll have to …”

  “But not yet,” she said. “I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

  “But I can’t touch you; can’t hold you,” and my voice broke as I knew deep down one day I would have to let her go.

  “If you recall, for the last twenty-five years you haven’t touched me or held me. You thought I was a ghost, remember?”

  I knew she was right, but a mere few weeks of knowing she was alive had changed all my expectations—the fact that we had been at odds for most of those few weeks broke my heart.