“I don’t know how long that will hold, and frankly, I’d rather not find out,” the demon said. “Now hold your breath and hold tight to me…”
Alaric barely got a lung full of air before the fetid darkness closed over him. He clung tight, growing dizzy and marveling at the speed with which the demon moved. Then suddenly, there was light again, and they were high over the hole and the river, and looking down, Alaric could see that the world below was starting to collapse inward.
And there was magic in the air. A great abundance, and none of it natural to this place. Alaric cringed against the demon and looked out at the wall around them.
At the far end, he could see some sort of platform on which men stood. Among them, the all too familiar figure of Turlough was standing with arms raised as though about to cast some spell. And under it all, as Alaric stretched mage senses, he could feel Etienne and Fenelon somewhere behind the wall of rushing water.
“Horns! Take me to them! Gate me there now!” Alaric cried.
“As you wish,” the demon said, and his darkness swirled around them once more, forcing Alaric to hold his breath again.
SIXTY TWO
The first rumble of the ground beneath Etienne’s feet caught her attention most hastily. Bad enough, she was close to the edge of the ledge, but to have it suddenly tremble was not welcome sensation, especially since at the time, she was attempting to deflect the flight path of another of Turlough’s stones.
“Blessed Lady,” she whispered and staggered back from the edge. And as a result, the small boulder whizzed past her head within inches.
“Cut that one a little close didn’t you?” Fenelon called over to her from his place on the ledge.
His merriment and her retort were cut short as the ledge pitched again. This time, the tremor was strong enough to take Fenelon to his knees and drop Etienne into a sitting position. Flustered, she was still wise enough to be grateful for the thickness of her cloak and robes, as they would keep her from having to explain an embarrassing bruise.
“Hey!” Fenelon shouted. “Turlough, have you gone mad?”
Bits of stone dislodged themselves from the face of rock behind the falls and tumbled down with the water which now seemed to have developed a waggle.
“Horns, he started an earthquake, the bastard!” Fenelon snapped.
“I don’t think he had anything to do with this,” Etienne said, and pointed.
Here and there, the curtain of water actually parted at intervals to reveal the platform. Its passengers were clinging to the rails. The shock waves created enough turbulence in the air to rock the platform. And beyond them, she got small glimpses of what looked like a giant hole sinking inward towards the center of the volcano.
“Damn you, Fenelon!” Turlough called. “What have you done?”
“Me!” Fenelon tried to lurch upright and defend himself from the accusation, but he was thrown off balance again. Water was being splashed back at their ledge. Suddenly, this looked to be a very unsafe place to have fortified their selves, in Etienne’s opinion. Especially when the ledge tilted at a sharp angle and dropped both of them into the falls…
She opened her mouth to scream when something snagged her. Something large and scaly wrapped a tail around her waist and kept her from being plunged over the rim. That same long tail stretched to seize Fenelon as well. She looked up to find a demon’s toothy grin in her line of vision.
“Not a step I would recommend,” Vagner said with more than a hint of glee.
“Vagner?” she said.
“Get us out of here,” Fenelon shouted, his voice somewhat panicked.
“Where to?” the demon responded.
“The hut…anywhere! Just out of here!”
“Hold your breath,” Vagner said. “And keep holding it until you see daylight.”
Etienne took a deep one, and was grateful she got such a lungful of air, for suddenly, she entered some fetid darkness. She had never traveled through a demon gate before, and if they were all like this, she hoped she would never be traveling through one ever again. It seemed to take forever, but suddenly, there was light, the white expanse of a snowy mountainside, and below them, a small hut…The shepherd’s hut they had occupied the night before.
She sucked several breaths of air into her lungs. Vagner set her and Fenelon down first, then opened his arms to reveal Alaric and Shona. But as soon as Etienne saw Shona, she felt her heart in her throat, for the lass was not moving. Vagner cradled Shona like a sleeping child.
“Oh, dear,” Etienne said. “What happened?” She looked at Alaric as she spoke.
“Tane,” he said, barely able to get the word out. “He was trying to kill me. Shona…”
Etienne waved her hands and turned back to the demon. “Here, bring her inside, quickly. Alaric, which spell was it?”
“Death bolt,” he said as Vagner shrank enough to carry Shona through the door of the hut. It was freezing inside, but Fenelon was already casting warmth spells and fire spells in an attempt to heat the hut properly. He seemed quite relieved to have a natural source of power at hand again.
“Where did it strike her?” Fenelon asked.
“Her back…her shoulder, I think…I couldn’t really tell…I…” Alaric paused in his words. “Is she…?” His voice trailed off to a whisper.
“Dead?” Etienne said and touched Shona’s pale cheek with the back of a hand. “No…not yet. She’s strong. She’s fighting, but…”
“She needs a True Healer,” Fenelon said.
“Yes,” Etienne said. “Which I am not…” She hoped her voice did not betray her sudden anger at herself.
“What happened back there?” Fenelon asked Alaric. “Did you get to the Dragon’s Tongue…or does Tane have it…?”
“Tane is dead,” Alaric said. He looked weary and careworn enough that Etienne was torn between staying by Shona and going to the youth. “Vagner ate him…”
Fenelon looked up at the demon who grinned. “Fine,” Fenelon said, his expression dubious. “But what of the Dragon’s Tongue.”
“Look, it’s got to be safe because the whole place started collapsing on top of us…” Alaric said.
“And you didn’t bring it?” Fenelon said.
“It was a rock, Fenelon,” Alaric blurted. “A stupid piece of rock that felt so evil, I didn’t want to touch it, all right? Now, we need to get Shona someplace where she can get help, and you can ask me questions later when…”
“Fenelon!” a familiar voice shouted from beyond the door. “There is no escape now. We have you surrounded. You might as well surrender!”
Oh, horns! Etienne thought and turned towards the door. She sent mage senses forth to scry and was greeted by Turlough’s essence. “How did he find us so quickly?” she said aloud.
“Horns,” Fenelon groused and glared at the demon. “You didn’t cover your gate?”
“You didn’t ask me that. You only asked me to get all of you out of there,” Vagner retorted.
Fenelon looked like he would have said more. “We need a plan,” he said.
“We need to get Shona to a True Healer. Now!” Etienne blurted.
“All right,” Fenelon said, stretching a hand. “But we also need to get Alaric out of here. Turlough wants you dead.”
“Me?” Alaric said. “After all I’ve been through?”
He looked like he might start crying at any moment, and Etienne thought it brave of him not to, under the circumstances.
“Fenelon!” Turlough shouted. “You have to the count of ten to surrender, or I will bring this hovel down on your ears!”
Etienne looked at Fenelon who was pacing the floor. “We should, you know,” she said softly.
“What?” Fenelon retorted.
“For Shona’s sake, Fenelon. I can’t save her life. At least this way, she has a chance.”
“One!” Turlough shouted.
“She’s right,” Alaric said. “Better we surrender so Shona lives…”
&nb
sp; “Are you out of your mind?” Fenelon blurted. “You can’t surrender, not with that demon attached to you!”
“What does it matter anymore?” Alaric said. “Tane is dead. The threat is dead. Surely Turlough will listen to reason.”
“Right, and you know nothing about my Uncle Turlough if you think that,” Fenelon said.
“Two!” Turlough’s voice rang.
“Look, we cannot stay here arguing,” Etienne interrupted, stepping between them. “I am going to surrender for Shona’s sake. At least that way, she can go back to Dun Gealach and have a chance to live.”
Fenelon rolled his eyes. “Right, and I should take Alaric and flee and leave you to Turlough’s mercy? Not wise, my dear.”
“He will not hurt me,” she said.
“Three!” Turlough’s voice sounded a little bored now.
“No, because I’m going to be there to see that he doesn’t,” Fenelon said. “But Alaric must leave.”
“Leave? How?” Alaric insisted. “And go where?”
“I know exactly where to send you,” Fenelon said. “But we have to be quick. I doubt, with all the mage power out there to assist him, Turlough will let me hold a gate open for long.”
“What?” Alaric said.
“Four!” Turlough said, and Etienne wanted to shout back at him to have a little more patience. But she knew he did not.
“Listen to me,” Fenelon said. “You cannot surrender because Turlough will likely kill you and Vagner on the spot. So I’m sending you someplace safe.”
“Where?”
“I don’t dare say. Just trust me, all right?” Fenelon said.
“I’m not going,” Alaric said. “You can’t make me…”
“Five! Fenelon, I’m halfway there.”
“Yes, Uncle, I can hear that,” Fenelon barked back. “We’re making a decision.” His attention turned back to Alaric. “Yes, you are going,” Fenelon said. “Because I can make you.”
He reached out and seized Alaric’s face. Vagner started to lunge to Alaric’s defense, but the demon suddenly stopped.
“Ronan,” Fenelon said. “Don’t let him come back, do you understand?”
Alaric jerked back, breaking the grasp and falling into the demon’s arms. Fenelon shifted his gaze to Vagner just as Turlough shouted, “Six!”
“Don’t you dare bring him back here, demon,” Fenelon said. “It’s your life as well as his.”
Vagner seemed to stiffen, and his arms clamped around Alaric who started to struggle and shout. “Let go of me!” Yet even Etienne could see that the order was a pain for the demon to disobey. Still, Vagner held tight, and Fenelon stepped back and closed his eyes.
“Etienne, I need a distraction,” Fenelon said.
She nodded and drew away from Shona to begin a second gate spell.
Stillness filled the room, following by an abrupt surge as Fenelon yanked what essence he could to him. “Geata foisgeal…” he began.
“No!” Alaric cried.
But Fenelon worked quickly, tearing open a gate, and Etienne was conjuring another over it as a masking spell. She felt the tension in the air as outside the hut, other mageborn began counter spells in hopes of slamming her gate shut before she could complete it, but that was the whole purpose. To keep them concentrating on her.
“No, don’t do this!” Alaric cried in vain. Fenelon tore open a gate. He looked up at Vagner.
“Take him now, and don’t come back,” Fenelon said.
Alaric kicked and flailed at the demon to no avail. Vagner clutched Alaric tighter to the demon’s chest and launched them both through Fenelon’s gate.
The wood of the door exploded inward just as Fenelon’s gate faded. Etienne still held hers, and she banished it only when Turlough and his battlemages came surging through the gap.
“What in the name of Cernunnos have you done?” Turlough shouted. “Where have you sent him?”
Etienne said nothing, glancing over at Shona. Within moments, there were hands seizing her and Fenelon, and naturally, he put up a struggle for show. But in the end, he was bound and gagged, and so was she. Turlough was no longer willing to trust her…at least not at the moment.
He ordered Shona carried off to the True Healer at Dun Gealach. For that Etienne was grateful. She watched as one of the battlemages opened the gate and bore the lass through.
The High Mage then looked at Fenelon and snarled. “I will find him, and he will not live beyond that moment. So you understand me?”
Fenelon merely quirked his brows as if to say, “In your dreams, old man,” before he was dragged through the spell gate. Turlough glanced at Etienne one last time then sent her through as well.
But not before she heard him tell one of his assistants, “Stay here and find out where she sent him…”
She breathed a small sigh of relief. For following her gate would just take him to the middle of a certain lake she knew…
She hoped the battlemage could swim.
THE END? HARDLY…
Dragon's Tongue: Book One of the Demon-Bound Page 48