Unfortunately, it hung several feet away from her. Copper stuffed her wand in her back pocket, keeping the lit end up. It threw just enough light around her to see, but she would have preferred its full light in front of her.
Carefully, she climbed over piles of rocks and dirt, grasping handholds and finding footholds, as she worked her way to the rope. Dirt buried itself under her fingernails and she scratched the insides of her arms on the rocks.
Her pulse elevated every time pebbles slid beneath her shoes or fingers and into the darkness below. Stones bounced against the walls of the hole, but the fact that she didn’t hear them hit bottom added to her feeling of urgency to reach the rope.
“Not gonna fall. I’m not gonna fall.” Sweat coated her forehead and she took shallow breaths as she worked her way around.
She finally reached the massive boulder the rope was tied around. She sagged against the rock in relief and gave herself a moment to catch her breath.
“I can do this.” She worked hard to convince herself of that and not think of falling.
She reached for the strange-looking rope that glittered in the faint wand light that came from her back pocket. She hugged the boulder and reached as far as her arm could go and made a frustrated sound when her fingers came just short of it.
“Damn.” Her arms trembled from the strength it took to hold on to the boulder and keep her footing. Just a bit farther and she’d have it.
Any farther and she was likely to plunge into the hole.
She attempted to stretch a little more when Zephyr buzzed off her ear and toward the rope. He zipped straight to the other side of the rope and landed hard against it—hard for a honeybee.
Surprisingly, the rope moved closer to Copper’s fingertips. He flew off it and then back to it—harder this time—swinging on it as it came even closer to Copper’s hand. Familiars were stronger than their forms, and obviously Zephyr had more strength than she’d realized. “A little more, Zeph,” she said.
He buzzed off, then rammed his little body into the rope, causing it to swing close enough for her to grab.
With relief she gripped the rope. “Thank you, Zeph.”
The fingers of her other hand slid across the boulder’s surface.
She lost her hold.
Her feet slipped out from under her.
Copper cried out as she fell.
She clenched her fingers tightly around the rope. It burned her palm as she slid down. She grabbed the rope with her other hand and with a jerk and a cry she brought herself to a halt.
Copper clung to the rope, tendons stretched tight, her arms aching. She brought her knees up around the rope and crossed her feet at the ankles as she’d done in gym class all those years ago when she was in high school.
Sweat coated her whole body and her heart beat like crazy. She wanted to rest but her muscles burned and her body cried for relief. Good thing she’d been doing all those pull-ups during her imprisonment.
“Okay.” She sucked in her breath as her familiar landed on her ear. “Here we go, Zeph.”
She slowly eased down the rope. One hand under the other. One hand under the other.
Over and over again.
How much farther? she asked herself when she was afraid her muscles wouldn’t cooperate much longer.
The tension in the rope vanished.
The rope dissolved in her fingers.
She dropped.
Copper screamed as she fell. Wind rushed past her face. She braced herself for the impact she knew would come.
She fell. And fell. And fell—
With a thud and a whack she landed on her ass. She fell back. Her skull struck the hard-packed earth. Lights sparked in her mind. Her entire body ached, from her head to her back to her tailbone.
Groaning, she pushed herself to a sitting position. Pitch-black. She could see nothing.
Copper’s pulse jumped as she realized she’d just landed on her wand. She withdrew her wand from her back pocket. Already she could feel that it had been flattened in the middle since it was only made of copper.
Heart sinking, she brought it in front of her, focused her magic on it. Rather than a quick illumination, it slowly grew just faint enough that she could see. She looked closer at her wand.
The quartz-crystal point had cracked. The tip had fallen off.
“Nooooooo!” She shook it, as if that would possibly fix it, and peered at it again. “Damn, damn, damn!”
Again she tried to make it work, but nothing helped.
She crouched on her knees and wrapped her hands around her belly. “What am I going to do?” she whispered. “How am I going to help Silver?”
Zephyr buzzed up to her ear and he sounded more than sympathetic, he sounded incredibly worried.
She had to have her wand to do magic. She wasn’t any good at hand witchcraft like her sister was. When she became proficient with her wand at a young age, she had completely relied upon it.
Copper held the wand up and the meager light glinted on the broken crystal quartz on the floor of the cave. She scooped it up from the dry dirt and her stomach pitched as she stared at the piece in her hand. Maybe a spell could fix it. The round crystal at the other end of the wand was unscathed, so maybe it would help.
Her hands trembled as she tried to fit the shard into the broken crystal at the end of the wand. Ignoring the pain in her back, neck, and head, and the burn from the rope on her hands, she sat cross-legged on the floor of the tunnel and held the shard between her thumb and forefinger as she said her spell.
“What was broken will be remade,
For this crystal is needed to aid.
In fighting the evil this way come,
With this wand good shall be from.
By the earth and fire will this be forged,
So that all that is evil may be scourged.”
Copper held her breath as the broken part of her wand glowed. A soft gold, not the brilliant light she was accustomed to. The glow reflected through the broken shard, casting fractured light throughout the huge tunnel. Her fingers that held the shard felt a horrible burning sensation. Tears of pain prickled at the backs of her eyes.
When she didn’t think she could take any more, the wand light went out. The crystal shard fell from her fingers and into her lap. “No, no, no, no!” she shouted and her voice bounced against the walls of the cave.
This time a tear did roll down her cheek, and with one fist she pounded the earth beside her in frustration, anger, and fear. This hadn’t happened in her dream-vision. She’d had her wand, dammit!
How could she get out of this mess? Then her chest seized. She had to get to Silver. She had no choice. What if her sister lay dying at this very moment? What about Silver’s baby?
Pain shooting through her body, Copper eased to her feet and stuffed the shard in her pocket. She raised her stupid wand high enough that its minimal glow let her see that she was in a huge tunnel—big enough for the giant to travel through. That was different from her dream, too.
She wiped her hands on her jeans and started along the tunnel, which led in only one direction. The other side was blocked. Rocks crunched beneath her feet and the smell of freshly dug earth was strong. No doubt the giant had widened the Drow tunnel when he’d made his way to the top.
Copper had been walking for at least an hour before she finally saw an opening into some kind of chamber—and heard noises.
She eased to her hands and knees and crawled toward the opening, certain no one could see the dim wand light. Her thumb and forefinger still stung from when she’d tried to repair the wand, and the dirt beneath her palms magnified the pain from the rope burn.
When she reached the edge of the chamber, she blinked in the darkness. Her eyes had adjusted to seeing with very little light, and her heart caught in her throat as she saw four giants.
Two lay dead in the center of the chamber, their bodies riddled with arrows and holes the arrowheads had made when they exploded in the giant bod
ies. Their throats were slashed, too. Copper recognized those arrows. They belonged to the Drow.
Like the other giant Tiernan and the Drow had fought, these were hunchbacked, had skin of bark brown with stringy mosslike brown hair. Their eyes were all a brilliant green and their teeth mossy green and jagged.
Scattered on the floor were shields the same size as the one the other giant had used, as big as a garage door. Two clubs the size of a commuter plane lay haphazardly near the giants.
The two living giants carried nothing. However, they grunted and made sounds of fury as they looked upon what must have been guards to the gates—gates that surely led the Drow closer to Underworld.
Each of the enormous beasts grabbed a dead-giant by the foot and dragged it across the floor of the chamber to a huge tunnel on the other side of the room.
Ponds of blood remained behind and some streaked the floor as the giants hauled away the bodies. The smell of the giants and the blood was like garbage left out in the sun too long.
The blood looked fairly fresh, so the Drow must have passed this way not long ago. That thought actually gave her hope. Maybe she’d still reach them before it was too late.
Adrenaline rushed through Copper’s body and heightened her senses. She scrambled from the tunnel and onto the dirt floor of the giant chamber. She bolted across it, dodging the pools of blood, and running toward the opposite wall where she saw another large tunnel.
Goddess, it’s so far!
When she reached the midpoint of the chamber, she heard the rumble of a giant nearby. She cast a look in the direction the two giants had gone through and her blood rushed in her ears when she saw one of the giants had returned. Thanks to being a track star when she was in high school, she had the ability to nearly double her speed.
Earth pounded and it shook dirt and rocks loose from the ceiling of the chamber as the giant rushed toward her, its huge steps giving it an advantage she didn’t have. Terror knifed through her as the beast drew closer.
Copper was almost to the tunnel. She pushed herself harder, faster, and slipped through its entrance. The barely glowing wand kept her from smacking into walls as she ran, and she prayed no wall would end this passageway.
The only problem was that the tunnel was large enough for the giant to crawl in after her. Chest heaving and sweat pouring down her brow, she continued to run. Her thighs burned, her lungs burned.
She ran straight into a cobweb and wiped it out of her face as she heard the grunting and panting of the giant still behind her. It was a tighter squeeze for the giant, but it was gaining on her.
She felt Zeph leave her ear and she didn’t have time to stop to call him back. What if he got caught in the cobweb? Did he have enough magic to free himself?
In the next moment she heard the giant bellow. The pounding behind her ceased as the giant cried out in obvious pain and fury.
Zephyr! The familiar had attacked the giant, probably stinging it in the face multiple times. Goddess, how she loved that little guy.
Even though she could barely breathe and her body ached, she kept running until she was positive nothing remained behind her.
She bent over, hands on her thighs, head dizzy, legs and arms trembling. Her braid flopped over her shoulder. She straightened and tipped back her head, trying to control her breathing and slow down her speeding heart.
Just like when she’d raced in track meets in high school, she knew she had to walk off the run. Her face burned and her chest ached.
Copper braced her hands on her hips and walked forward, barely able to see because her damaged wand peeked out from her clenched fist at her side.
She took a step forward. Her shoe met nothing.
With a scream she tumbled into darkness again.
24
Hawk met up with Tiernan outside the brown gates of the court with Keir at his side. Keir was Hawk’s bastard-born half-brother who held little love for Hawk.
A formidable warrior, Keir had a scar across one cheek, and fought like the hounds of Underworld. He had returned to Otherworld after Samhain to attend to the training of additional D’Danann warriors who were to join them in Copper’s world.
“I have enlisted more of our brethren. They will join us shortly,” Hawk said to Tiernan. His features still twisted with anger, his hand clenched around his sword hilt. “I shall kill Darkwolf with my bare hands when we meet. And if Silver or our babe is injured, I shall kill him again.”
Keir’s arms crossed his chest and he wore a thunderous expression. He might have no love for his half-brother, Hawk, but he obviously respected and cared for Silver.
Tiernan felt the same way about Silver. And Copper—he couldn’t find the words to express himself.
Hawk gave Tiernan a long measured look as they waited for the warriors. Tiernan could hear the men and women coming in the distance.
“You have been trifling with Copper’s heart,” Hawk said. “If you hurt her, D’Danann brother or no, I shall have to flay you.”
“I deserve that beating. I have already hurt her.” Tiernan gave a great sigh as Hawk’s eyes darkened. “However, I hope she will have me once I explain—and now that I have freed myself from my responsibilities of the court.”
He raked his hand through his hair and scrubbed his scalp in frustration. “I broke my vow to Airell. I gave all my wealth to Urien so that he may rise in stature within the courts to wed her. My parents have disowned me, but Copper is all that is important to me.”
Hawk raised one brow. “All your wealth? Your stature?”
“My responsibilities. My honor.” Tiernan lowered his hand and clenched it. “If Copper does not take me, then I will choose to live the warrior’s life with the rest of the D’Danann.”
Tiernan was just about to ask Hawk how many D’Danann would be joining them when Urien tore through the gates, a Faerie riding on his shoulder. “Tiernan! This Faerie has news for you.”
“Riona?” Tiernan’s belly churned when Urien reached him. For the Faerie queen to bring tidings herself, the news she carried would not be good. “What brings you this way?”
The Fae cousin to the D’Danann used her tiny hand to push her black hair from her face. She looked as if she were winded from a long flight. Lavender Faerie dust sprinkled Urien’s shoulder with every movement her wings made.
The Faerie sounded tired as she spoke. “Balor has blocked Elvin entries and exits from Copper’s world to Otherworld. Cassia, the other witches—no one was able to follow.”
“Follow who?” Dread weighed heavy in Tiernan’s chest.
“Copper has gone alone to face Darkwolf and the Drow to save Silver,” Riona said.
Shock arrowed through Tiernan’s chest.
“Speak, Faerie,” Hawk commanded, obviously impatient for news of his mate.
The queen gave him a haughty look and flew straight from Urien’s shoulder to buzz in front of Hawk’s nose. “I will answer your questions only because Copper is friend to the Faeries and we fear greatly for her safety.” Riona’s anger bled away. “Silver is in mortal peril. As is Copper now.”
Tiernan felt as if someone twisted the arrow. Hawk’s dark complexion paled.
The other warriors arrived and the situation was quickly explained to them. “How shall we get to this place? Is it a long journey?” Tiernan asked.
Riona nodded. “It is far, and it was only due to magical flight that I was able to arrive as quickly as I have.”
“Then how shall we reach her?” Tiernan ground his teeth as he waited for an answer.
The queen looked from Tiernan to Hawk. “You will need to go to the Elvin transference point and ask the aid of the Great Guardian.”
Immediately shouts of agreement and disagreement broke out among the D’Danann warriors. Tiernan watched for a moment as Hawk started forward with no hesitation.
Hawk’s first wife, who had passed to Summerland a few years ago, had been half-Elvin. Hawk had maintained his ties to the Elves despite the animosity
between Fae and Elves.
“I will speak with the Great Guardian.” Hawk unfurled his wings and immediately began his journey through the forest.
“You can count on me to aid you, as well,” Urien said, his gaze resting on Tiernan. “I owe you much.”
Tiernan gave a quick nod. He and the other warriors took to the sky and followed Hawk as he made his way through the forest, away from the D’Danann village. Riona settled on Tiernan’s shoulder, looking queenly, though somewhat tired.
“Godsdamn.” Tiernan could not contain the emotion raging through him. “I promised Copper I would be there for her. She cannot face this alone.”
Riona crossed her legs at her knees and bounced her dainty foot. “You will be there for her. If you hurry now.”
Fear for Copper raged through Tiernan’s mind, like nothing he had ever felt before. His heart pounded against his ribs, his skin felt hot then cold. She had described her dreams to him vividly. What if they were true? Every last detail?
Tree branches scraped his face, and even through the smells of rich earth and fresh flowers, he felt the air closing in on him, as if the bubble trapped him again.
They reached the ancient Elvin transference point and each D’Danann landed and folded away their wings.
Elvin runes had long ago been carved around the circular platform made of a stone like gray marble, only far stronger, far more enduring. Beyond the platform sat a small bridge and a stream tinkled merrily beneath it.
“Veils can only be crossed by the Elves during special times throughout the year, such as the solstice or equinox,” Riona said. “However, Elves can also travel through doorways—over ancient bridges, or beneath great mounds of earth.”
She continued, “Since such a great number of you need to make your way, we will need the transference point along with the aid of the Great Guardian.”
Some of the D’Danann grumbled. Prejudices ran deep between Fae and Elves.
“Quiet!” Hawk bellowed, and complete silence from the warriors reigned instantly. “We will wait and see if the Great Guardian will bless us with her presence.”
The Seduced Page 27