The Sapphire Manticore (The Lost Ancients Book 4)
Page 31
He might have done the wrong thing, but he did it for the right reasons. Alric’s first time leaving me popped into my head—and why he returned to Beccia. “You had no idea what they really were until Alric brought back the glass gargoyle, though. You thought a weapon like it alone, would help your people. Trying to save your people, even if it was from themselves, and now apparently a horribly bad idea, isn’t wrong.”
He tried to smile again, but it failed. “Thank you, child, but you saw what the gargoyle was able to do. Granted it doesn’t seem to be able to make the same dimension-splitting hole that it did before, but had Alric not been there, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist.”
“Which was why I wanted him to be the one to go,” Siabiane said as she stood in front of the others.
Covey, Tag, and Harlan all looked ready for war. Especially Covey. She hadn’t gone berserker since the event with the gargoyle but from the hooded look to her eyes and the tiny amount of swaying she was doing, there was a good chance that we might have a repeat performance before this all was over.
Alric looked calculating, at least from what I could see. He was also simply looking. He went into each cell, even the ones none of our friends had been in. He came back with two rusty daggers. I did notice his sword as well as Padraig’s was back.
Mine, of course, was nowhere to be found.
Padraig looked calm like Siabiane, but there was a grimness to his eyes that hadn’t been there before. After all he’d been through for his people, being locked up under the name of king and country was not setting well with him.
Orenda was the one who shocked me. She’d been quiet for most of the time I’d been around her since we’d all separated in Kenithworth. She’d even looked scared a few times.
She didn’t now. She’d been the last person to come out of her cell, and while I was talking to Lorcan’s ghost, I was also watching her. When she first came out, she leaned against the doorway, as if injured or exhausted. But that only lasted a minute or two. Then she marched forward.
“You didn’t find anything other than those?” She demanded from Alric. At his nod, she held out her hands. “I’ll take them since you have a blade.”
He gave a tilt of his head, then handed her both battered blades. She took them, spun them around, and then demonstrated some very impressive moves. She was moving so fast, twirling, and stabbing out with the blades that it began to look like a dance. Finally she stopped with both arms crossed across her chest.
Before any of us could admire her moves, she flung one of the blades behind us, quickly followed by the second.
Two guards that none of us, except Orenda, had noticed had come around the corner. They’d been silent and neither held torches, so they were aware something was going on down here. Both fell to the ground with one of her borrowed daggers in his throat. She waited until they were obviously dead, and went to reclaim the blades. She wiped both off on the guards then also took the swords each one had on him.
We were all silent when she returned. Even Crusty and Leaf seemed in awe.
She handed one sword to Siabiane and one to Harlan. Or tried to. He shook his head and Tag stepped forward to take the blade instead. Covey was flexing her fingers and didn’t look like she needed a weapon besides herself. Orenda looked up and seemed surprised at all of us staring at her. “I told you I was a shield maiden when I met you. We fight.”
She had gone from protected fighter princess, sure her people were the only elves left, to finding out there were many elves left, and some were homicidal maniacs. She was handling it pretty dang well.
“Do you think we can find another sword? I’m not as good as you are, but I think I’ll need something,” I said. Granted, I had my magic back, but since I had nowhere near the skills of the rest of our magic users, testing things out in an underground dungeon was probably not the best idea.
“What’s that one behind you?” Orenda was the only one facing me.
Yup, there was my damn sword—and its scabbard, lying about two feet behind me. I went, buckled the scabbard on, and then noticed that everyone was staring at me.
“What? This thing seriously has a mind of its own.”
Alric arched an eyebrow. “My sword doesn’t have a mind of its own—it doesn’t have a mind at all.”
I looked to Padraig for support but he nodded in agreement with Alric.
“Mine apparently does. And duck!” I yelled the last part as an arrow came from down the hallway. Orenda had looked down there when she reclaimed her blades, but we must have new people shooting at us. Elves were just too damn quiet.
The arrow missed all of us, and even though I couldn’t see who fired it, Orenda must have been able to. She threw both her daggers into the darkness and was rewarded with two screams.
“We need to get out of here, and that’s the only way out.” Alric motioned for all of us to follow; Orenda was right next to him.
He stopped when she held up a hand, then one finger, and pointed forward and to the right. Alric held up his hand so the rest of our people could see it, and then he and Orenda crept forward. Crusty and Leaf drifted along behind them, ignoring my silent gesturing to come back. There was no scream this time, only a startled gasp and some muttering.
They came back with a roughed-up Locksead still in a knight’s uniform in between them. Crusty and Leaf flittered back, looking very disappointed. The faeries could be bloodthirsty little monsters sometimes.
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to tell them you were around and in disguise.” I winced. It looked like either Orenda or Alric had gotten a good punch or two in before they realized who it was. Too bad he’d taken the helmet off; it might have helped protect his head. Of course then they would have taken longer to realize it was him and probably done a lot more damage. It was good for all of us they wanted a live guard this time.
“I was coming to tell you there’s something going on, something bigger than them trying to blame you all as traitors. Qianru isn’t sure what, but she thinks something big is about to happen. We need to get you out now.” He looked around and shook his head. “I knew I should have brought more weapons.” Then he did a double take at Covey’s changes. “Are you okay?”
I looked back. She was definitely looking far more feral than normal, but not nearly as bad as she had when Thaddeus had kidnapped us. So that was sort of good. Maybe in the last few months she’d learned to control it better. Those weeks spent in the nunnery after the battle over the glass gargoyle must have been good for her.
“Fine,” she answered him, but really didn’t look fine. She was clenching and unclenching her fingers even more, and they looked longer and like they needed to shred something.
“Was there anyone else with you in the halls?” Padraig asked.
Locksead shook his head. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not there. I have to stay away from them or they’ll realize I’m not one of them. I only came down the one hall from outside. I don’t even know where the other halls go.”
“What’s our plan? How well do any of you know where we are?” I asked as I accepted a dagger from Orenda. I had my sword now, but she’d obviously figured more weapons were better. At least for me. She’d taken the opportunity to pilfer the weapons off the two guards she’d killed. The dagger she gave me was elegantly marked and had a good weight to it. It drove home what we were doing. “How do we know these were bad guys?” I looked up from the dagger. “They could just be doing their job.”
I wasn’t a killer. I knew that sometimes it was a kill or be killed situation, but if I could avoid it I would. These guards thought we were traitors to their crown and there was a chance they might have been tricked to believe that. Maybe we could get out of here without killing more of them.
“Look at their right arm, on the underside, directly above their wrist,” Siabiane said softly.
Orenda was still the closest to the bodies, so she did it. “There’s a faint mark, a circle and a dagger, it looks l
ike.” She dropped the hand quickly and wiped her own hand off on her tunic as if it had blood on it.
All of the elves looked like they were going to be sick. Covey and Locksead didn’t look too good either.
“What does that mean?” If it wasn’t on something I’d dug out of the ruins, I probably didn’t know what it was. Moreover, I would have recalled that being on anything I found.
“I won’t say their name here. But it’s the order of elven guards who betrayed us all and led to the Dark.” Siabiane marched up to the corpses and flung out her hand. All three burned with a blue flame, and then crumbled to dust. “We can’t take the chance they are found, or worse. I don’t know these cells, but I have a feeling I know where we are.” She started up the hall, then stopped.
I hadn’t even noticed that Lorcan had vanished as soon as the others came out of their cells. He flared back into view as Siabiane waited.
“I need you to guide us, old man. This is as much your fault as mine. We knew it might happen.” Siabiane seemed sad, angry, and worst of all scared. The look on Lorcan’s face as he drifted past me was about the same, minus the anger.
“They locked my spirit. I can’t drift through these walls, so I can’t scout ahead.” He nodded; this time his form didn’t bob as much. “But I’d say we are under the throne room in the royal castle.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“Then the king and queen must be involved,” Alric said it, but Padraig looked like he was thinking it also.
“Now, that doesn’t have to be the case.” Harlan had been silent during all of this, something extremely unusual for him, but I think things were going too fast for him right now. “They could be unaware. That creature who grabbed us clearly took your body for a reason.” He held up his hand to stop Siabiane and Lorcan from commenting. “Obviously, there is some bad blood between you all. But he could have taken anyone’s body at any time?” At Lorcan’s nod he continued. “Then why you and why now?”
Covey nodded. “He is right, might be trying to fool royals.” Her speech was awkward due to the extra teeth in her mouth, and normally I knew she’d have far more to say on the subject. Nevertheless, she was still keeping her changing physiology mostly under control.
Siabiane and Padraig shared a look, then both nodded. “Then we have to make sure they are safe.”
“What?” Locksead looked around the room. “Qianru is going to be staging a distraction, and then we escape and get the hell out of here. Let the elves sort this out.” He looked to our collection of elves and nodded. “No offense, but this is your problem, not ours.”
Harlan was watching Siabiane, but he shook his head. “I think whatever is going on is bigger than this, isn’t it?”
Siabiane gave a sad smile. “Aye, it is. And you are all welcome to leave, but I cannot until I am certain the king and queen are safe.”
“And not behind this.” Lorcan looked even sadder now. I realized no matter how old the royals were, both Lorcan and Siabiane probably watched them grow up and helped put them on the throne.
“Agreed,” Padraig said.
“Whatever we are doing, we need to get out of this trap, first.” Alric had been watching the hall, but he also had his sword out and was looking twitchy.
“Follow me. I can at least get you to where the other elves came from.” Locksead moved forward. “They always sent me back at this point, so it’s probably important.” He started walking, then paused. “I don’t suppose we have any glows?”
Alric shook his head, but Lorcan drifted forward.
“I can help you—my eyes see in the dark even better than they did when I was alive.”
Locksead paused. Ghosts were a new thing for all of us who didn’t grow up in the enclave, but he nodded and motioned for Lorcan to join him.
“Couldn’t we use those orange glows you had in the council building?” I asked Padraig. I knew they had a name but I forgot it the moment he told it to me. There were a few far more pressing things to focus on at the time.
“The clearthin? Unfortunately, no. There are too many people to cover and Siabiane and I are the only ones who know how to use them. Well, and Lorcan.”
“And I have no magic right now,” Lorcan added.
Alric followed, with Orenda, Harlan, Tag and myself clumped in the middle. Covey, Padraig, and Siabiane brought up the rear. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Siabiane seemed to be asking a number of questions of Covey. Clearly, she knew there was something going on as well.
The halls were still drippy and damp, and without the torches, even darker than before. Orenda took Tag’s hand and pulled him close, and Harlan took mine. Chataling eyesight was almost as good as an elves’. Not being able to see much still bugged me, but I did feel more secure with Harlan leading me. Crusty and Leaf landed on my head, but neither seemed ready to start trying to steer me or make me go faster. I didn’t think they were afraid, but something was making them very quiet.
We got to the place where Locksead had handed me over to the guards, and he and Lorcan went to the right—where the guards had come from.
A cool breeze ruffled my hair in the back. The way out was behind us. On one hand, I understood the seriousness of what was going on, an entire elven kingdom was at risk. On the other hand, I really wanted to get the heck out of here.
The rest were still moving down the new damp, drippy, rat-infested hall so I kept up with them. That the hall seemed to be going down instead of up was a bit disturbing though.
“Shouldn’t we be going up?” I finally said as loud as I felt safe.
Harlan and I were right behind Locksead and Lorcan, so I heard the soft swearing coming from the ghost.
“Problem of not being connected to the ground anymore,” he said but he kept moving, so we all followed. “Yes, we should be going up. It could be that we simply haven’t passed the right…yes, this is it.” He automatically swung his arms to clear a spider web-covered doorway but didn’t even cause a ruffle. “If you could help a dead, old man?”
Locksead nodded and cleared the way. One would think if this was being used by anyone—guards, villains, crazed magic users—that this much webbing shouldn’t happen.
There was still more as we went inside the narrow hall.
“Okay, old man,” Siabiane said from behind us. “Even I know this can’t be the way.”
“This is a different way, a better way, you’ll see.” Lorcan waved one ghostly hand and led Locksead and the rest of us further down the hall.
I was close to them so I heard him whisper to Locksead, “We are going upwards now, right?” At Locksead’s silent nod, Lorcan picked up speed.
Like the hallway, the door was covered in webs and didn’t look like it had moved since Alric’s grandmother’s time.
“See? The main doors would be guarded, even at the lower levels. Now, everyone lower your weapons. It just won’t do to approach the king armed as you all are.”
I sheathed my sword, and others did the same.
Lorcan pushed on the door, then floated aside and waited for Locksead to do the honors.
Crusty and Leaf both flew off my head and hovered in front of Harlan and I. “No. Bad there. Bad bad.” Both of them also waved their hands in front of their noses as if they smelled something awful.
My sense of smell wasn’t near as sensitive as theirs, but I knew the elves’ senses were and none of ours were reacting.
“The faeries don’t want us to go in.” I kept my voice low; I thought I could hear sounds coming from the way behind us. Maybe too low. Locksead continued swinging open the door and almost took an arrow in the head for it.
Had he not needed to stoop slightly to get enough force to shove the door open, he’d be dead now. Locksead slammed shut the door, but judging by the sounds we’d have company very soon.
“Fall back!” Alric yelled as he unsheathed his sword, but the hall was really too narrow if we were attacked here. I kept mine sheathed but did grab the dagger.
Siabiane looked around, but I could have told her there were no other passageways except the ones our enemies were running down.
That wasn’t what she was looking for.
“Kjilin maklit, thrfilin!” Her words grew louder with each one, until she yelled the last as she raised both hands, palms up, toward the ceiling.
I so needed Alric to teach me that way of doing spells.
The effect was even more impressive than the spell though. Siabiane pushed us all back toward the royal chamber, as the entire ceiling collapsed on itself. The people following us were close enough that they got taken out as well. At least it sounded like there was some screaming involved.
“We now only have one way to go, but it’s a fairer fight. Be ready to run, but you might all want to duck first.” She stalked past everyone and flicked her fingers at the heavy door. It shattered, and more screaming told me the people on the other side didn’t fare well.
We all ran through, Locksead holding his mini crossbow out and taking out as many as he could. Unlike a regular crossbow, these could be re-fired rapidly. They had a much shorter and smaller shaft however, so they didn’t piece armor as well as a full-size one.
Considering he took out four guards who had survived Siabiane’s explosion, I was not complaining.
We were moving forward, the rest of the guards were back a bit, but the corridor we were going down was short and I could see it quickly opened out to a huge hall. There could be whole armies of archers waiting to pick us off.
I was shoved aside as Covey ran past all of us. Growling. When she had gone berserker a few months ago, she was completely out of control. That was made worse by the fact none of us had ever seen her turn like that and she massively freaked out even herself.
This time was much different. She still looked like a feral version of herself. Her fingers had grown claws, she grimaced as she went by and her eyeteeth were long fangs. While she looked wild, she also looked like she knew what she was doing. Like she probably wouldn’t slice and dice her friends by accident. Something I’d felt in serious doubt during the glass gargoyle incident.