Devon turned back to Gel. “What is it?”
“Where is it?” Xehm added and Devon felt real terror.
I don’t see anything, Airi wailed, cold against his neck. I don’t see anything!
Gel raised his hand and pointed. Devon had been expecting the man to point past him, but Gel pointed vaguely to their right instead, toward the edge of the square. Devon looked that way, seeing absolutely nothing except more men moving around.
He looked back at Gel. “I don’t see anything,” he said. Gel closed his eyes and kept pointing as a tear trickled down his cheek.
Something flickered in Devon’s peripheral vision and he looked back toward the edge of the square.
There were fewer men there.
It was one of the hardest things Devon had ever done, his terror was so strong, but he looked back at Gel, his gaze locked on the other man’s as he tried to focus on nothing except the farthest edge of his peripheral vision. Wanting to panic and run so badly he could taste it, he forced himself to breathe and waited.
Something thick and as translucent as the finest stream of water swept across the edge of the crowd—a dozen somethings, a hundred. Tentacles, some thick as a man while others were thin as hairs, dangled along the edge of the crowd, picking off men so quickly and silently none of them realized it; none save the one man who’d survived seeing it before.
I can’t see anything! Airi shrieked.
“Oh, gods,” Devon groaned. “Oh, gods of us all!” He felt as though he was moving in slow motion, forcing himself to turn toward the Hunter. Straight on, he couldn’t see it from this far away, not really, but he could see what it was doing as the crowd thinned and those still alive started to realize something was happening. Too slowly though, too slowly, and the battle sylphs were on the other side of ten feet of solid stone.
“It’s here!” he screamed. “The Hunter is here! THERE!” He pointed toward the creature he couldn’t quite see, unfocusing his eyes so that he could see the hint of it where it touched the ground, swirling the sand left by the storm. He kept his gaze there, afraid to look up.
The men around him moved. By now they knew they were being hunted, and like Devon, they’d been using their anger to overwhelm their fear. They heard his warning and moved in all directions, staring around in every direction for what they couldn’t see.
Some of them stumbled right into it. Seen straight on, Devon gasped as they came apart, turning to a red mist that was sucked in and up so fast it was no wonder the first victims had died unremarked.
At least their deaths served to pinpoint the Hunter for the rest of them. “Run!” Devon screamed, even as men did all around him and Airi projected his voice so they could hear it even over their screams. “To the feeder pen entrance! Run!”
At last he turned and ran himself, hearing Xehm gasping at his side while Gel stumbled behind, Shasha at his side. The earth sylph was looking around in terror, not able to see even the tentacles his peripheral vision did.
Tentacles, he thought desperately. Tentacles hanging from the sky. He’d seen them before, in the clouds and in the sand, and thought they were imaginings. He’d seen them, and he tried very hard not to think about what he’d seen them attached to. All he could do was run, and hope it wasn’t catching up, reaching toward them with those tentacles, reaching past the shadow that stretched behind him in order to take them. He couldn’t even look back, for fear he would trip. Airi hugged his neck, sobbing.
The worst part of it was, he didn’t know the way. The Hunter was between them and the road to the feeder pens. He’d just walked down that road and he didn’t know how to get to the pens from here.
“This way,” Xehm gasped, tugging on his arm and heading down a side street. Devon let the old man lead, Gel bringing up the rear with Shasha’s firm grip on his wrist. Most of the men continued along the main road they’d just left, but at his shout, many followed them, wild-eyed with terror. All of them kept going, panting and sweating in the intense heat, their hearts pounding and their mouths dry, but none daring to stop.
They ran across the city, afraid at every turn and intersection, going as fast as they could through the piles of sand even as exhaustion slowed them to a walk, their legs shaking. It was only a few miles, but they couldn’t keep running the entire way, Devon told himself. They had to save something in case the Hunter found them again.
Why had he left the safety of the pens? Devon wondered wildly. Was he crazy?
Of course he wasn’t crazy. Even now, the thought of Zalia made his heart a little calmer and he was finally glad she’d been taken. She was safe; safe from death at least.
“How much farther?” he gasped.
“A mile from here if we went straight,” Xehm panted. “I’m taking back roads.”
“Good,” Devon managed. The main roads had to be better feeding grounds for the thing, so long as they didn’t get to the pens to find the Hunter floating right on top of it. He resolutely pushed that thought out of his mind and looked back at Gel. The man was in no shape for this and Shasha was carrying him, hurrying along after the rest of them. He still looked exhausted—small wonder since she had to feed from him to keep herself going.
“Thanks,” Devon managed to gasp. “We wouldn’t have escaped…without you.”
The man stared at him, his eyes wide.
Devon turned around and kept going.
They reached the pens as the sun started to go down, them and a few dozen others, including all of the sylphs that rebelled with Shasha. Left without queen, hive, or battlers to protect them, they stuck close together, trusting human eyes to keep them safe. Devon didn’t know if he could call that ironic.
His earlier thought that the Hunter would be waiting on top of the pens for them wasn’t realized. Devon didn’t know if any earlier arrivals hadn’t thought of it or were just braver than him, but there were men at the little building that formed the entrance, the last of them moving their few remaining supplies down. Devon breathed a gasping sigh of relief, but he couldn’t stop. He just kept looking around, trying to keep his vision unfocused and jumping at every trickle of sweat that slipped down past his eyes. Nothing. Thank all the gods there was nothing.
He hurried forward, the other men and sylphs following along. Airi still clung to his neck, the only cool spot on his entire body, and sobbed. In all the years he’d known her, even in the face of angry battle sylphs, he’d never seen her so frightened. He could only imagine how terrifying this was for her, and for him it was bad enough. He could at least see the thing, if only a little bit.
How could he see it? he wondered. It was much the same as looking at a heat haze, or one of the creatures that children’s stories said could only be spotted from the corner of the eye. Usually those were the sort of monsters that hid underneath beds or in closets, waiting to devour children who weren’t good. That’s certainly what this creature seemed to be, though it definitely didn’t care who it devoured. Even a human might not spot it coming until it was too late. Besides, seeing it wouldn’t stop it.
Reaching the entrance to the pens, Devon pushed the door open and waved the others through. Most of them looked exhausted to the point they couldn’t have gone any farther and he was glad they didn’t have to. Shading his eyes and looking out over the square, he tried to spot the Hunter, but either the creature was somewhere else or he wasn’t seeing it again.
The others were inside and Airi tugged at his hair, whimpering for him to come inside where it was safe. Devon did so, letting the door shut behind him. It was a good two inches thick, made out of well-balanced, sylph-shaped stone, but it wouldn’t keep the Hunter out. Not when the hive walls were ten feet thick. Frowning, Devon looked at the stairwell that led downward into darkness. It was a little intimidating, but not nearly so much as thinking about what wandered around outside. Gel was on the stairs, leaning heavily on Shasha as she helped hi
m down the steps. The man looked to be in shock again. Devon didn’t blame him; he felt rather like he was in shock himself.
“Shasha?” he asked. The slim earth sylph looked up at him, her eyes expressionless. Devon tried not to wonder if she regretted leaving the safety of her hive now. Could she go back, or was she considered an outcast for leaving the way she did? To be treated like an outsider the way Airi was? Devon couldn’t see that as something any sylph could feel easy with, and he hoped she wouldn’t resent Gel for it. He doubted it; from what he’d seen of sylphs, their love was immediate and without reservation. It was only odd that more of them hadn’t deserted the safety of the hive to reunite themselves with their male masters. Perhaps not all of them had a bond strong enough to make a sylph abandon their hive and queen and even their own chance of survival in order to be with their master.
He’d never asked Airi if she felt that strongly for him.
Isn’t it obvious? Airi whispered into his mind.
Shasha looked between them for a moment, her eyes impassive as she sensed whatever it was she did between them. “Yes?” she rumbled after a moment.
Devon shook himself, one hand up into Airi’s breeze. “Um, yes. Can you seal this entrance? Make it so we can get in and out if we have to, but the Hunter can’t?”
Shasha’s lips turned downward in a deliberate frown as she studied the door behind Devon, and the stone wall it sat in. “I’ll think about it,” she said at last.
“Thanks,” Devon told her as she turned to her master again. “Wait.” She looked at him again. “Can you get a message to your hive?” he asked.
She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. “We were next to nothing and we left. Now we are nothing. They’ll ignore anything we have to say.”
Devon sighed. “I was afraid of that.” Next to nothing? he asked Airi.
She swirled against his neck, playing with his hair again. It was a sure sign she was starting to feel safe again. All of us except for the queen are expendable, but elementals are less important than healers and battlers in a hive, she admitted. We’re just tools to keep the hive going. I like Solie for not being like that. She loves all of us.
“Oh,” Devon said. He hadn’t realized that before. No wonder the elemental sylphs never had a problem with being bound to humans when they came through the gate. They’d all been slaves on the other side of it anyway.
They went down the long, twisting stairway, Devon’s tension easing as the stone closed around them. They were safe down here, even if that safety was an illusion.
He’d have to see if the sylphs could repair the walkways and cages that the feeders used to live in. He certainly didn’t intend for men to live in cages; but remade into something a little more humane, they’d provide more than enough room for everyone. Then it was just a matter of finding enough food and water to keep them alive. He didn’t know how long they’d have to stay down here, but it would be a smart idea to plan for it to be a while. Airi said the Hunter would move on eventually, but he couldn’t even wonder when that would be, or what other cities it would destroy when it did. How was he to even start to warn everyone?
They reached the bottom of the stairs, letting out into the corridor they’d been in before, only this time it was full of boys running excitedly, their fathers yelling for them not to go into the section with the broken feeder pens or else they’d break their fool necks. Most of the men seemed to have gone in the other direction, which was a way Devon hadn’t seen, and they followed, making their way through a tight crowd of muttering men who nodded as they passed, many of them even stepping out of his way.
They know who led them here, Airi whispered to him and Devon found himself taking a deep, invigorating breath.
The hallway led into a series of guardrooms, men already claiming spots for their own or taking over small offices and sleeping rooms. Double doors lay broken ahead of them, and Devon walked into what he saw immediately was going to be the most popular living area in this place.
The double doors led into a massive, long room filled with cushions and curtain-covered alcoves. It looked opulent and comfortable, though he had to edge around a massive bloodstain right before the doors. The men were spreading out, claiming the little alcoves when they could. There was some arguing, but no fighting yet.
“This is a wonderful place,” Xehm said, his eyes wide. “What is it for?”
Devon looked around at the scattered cushions. The whole place was done up in jewel tones and he could smell a faint scent of incense, even now. “I bet it’s the concubine chambers.” Xehm looked vaguely horrified, but Devon started forward, hoping to find an alcove that hadn’t been taken. “It’s better than a cage.”
As they moved along, Gel walking at Shasha’s side and looking much more comfortable in a room that likely didn’t remind him of feeder pens, someone ran up. Devon barely recognized him as one of the men who’d first agreed to come to the pens. The man had brought a plethora of tools and useful items, more than anyone else managed, and he’d carried them all on his back. He’d even brought a pair of goats that the battlers somehow managed to miss.
“Come and see,” he said excitedly, grabbing Devon’s arm. “You won’t believe it.”
Devon looked at the others for a moment and then followed at the man’s urging. Only Xehm looked interested enough to follow, though the old man didn’t move so quickly and Devon had to slow down several times so he could keep up. He was tired himself and really wanted to find a place to lie down and rest for a while. That wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon. Whether he wanted it or not, he had to be in charge, and right now, it was even more important that he look to be in charge. It was one of the lessons Leon had taught him back in the Valley, though Devon was a little amazed at how many of those lessons he actually remembered.
The man led him back out of the harem, excusing their way through the crowd until they reached a side corridor beyond the guardrooms that would have been easy to overlook. It seemed most people had, since it was empty when they went down it, coming to a door that was closed by way of a bar that swung down into a few outward jutting slots. The man, who Devon now remembered was named Blithori, swung the bar up and pulled the door open. Three steps led down into a room that was filled with shadows until Blithori lifted up a lantern he’d brought and lit it.
The chamber on the far side of the door was immense, almost as big as the harem, and filled with shelving. On the shelves, neatly stacked, were dried foodstuffs, from fish to grain to fruit and cheeses. Devon gaped at it, making a strangled sound.
Blithori grinned at him. “I guess they had to keep the food for the concubines somewhere.”
And the battle sylphs hadn’t known. Devon heard Xehm come up behind them and yelp in surprise even as Devon clapped a hand on Blithori’s shoulder, grinning. “Good work, man. Really good work.”
It looked as though they had a chance to survive this after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Eapha stood on the balcony outside her private chambers and looked down at the hive below. The sky was clear, the sandstorm long gone, but the height she was at gave a strange perspective she wasn’t used to and there seemed to be a hazy miasma between her and the hive, something bulbous and almost textured, though she could see through it easily.
She just looked down at the hive, her fist tucked under her chin as she leaned on her elbow on the stone railing. It hurt a bit, but she didn’t care.
Zalia was right about her. Wasn’t she? Even after having agreed with the woman, even after having been screamed at about all the things she’d been thinking but never acted on, Eapha doubted herself. Kiala thought she was being stupid; if anyone was going to ruin the city, it would be an ex-concubine who’d lived in slavery since she was five. Besides, the city owed them nothing. Why would she want to help people who’d maintained the status quo that had kept her and all her fri
ends in chains? That was Kiala’s argument, the same as the rest of them. Eapha should be ashamed to think she should do anything.
Zalia disagreed, the same as Devon and definitely Leon. Devon and Leon certainly hadn’t had anything to do with her being a slave and she could tell that Zalia hadn’t either. The people who’d maintained Kiala’s so hated status quo were all dead now and those left behind were just trying to stay alive themselves.
She’d thought she could just ignore any responsibility and let the sylphs be in charge.
“It’s never worked that way.”
Eapha turned, seeing Tooie standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame while he studied her, his face solemn.
“Can you read my mind now?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I just know how you think, and I’ve heard all the arguments the rest of the women have been making.”
She turned around, leaning back against the railing. Both of them were trying so hard to look casual, though she felt anything but. Everything was tight inside of her and she could feel the tension in him. “You never said anything.”
He shrugged. “It’s not my place.”
Eapha stared at him. “But…you’re in charge.”
He shook his head, his lip twisting. “No, I’m not. I’m lead battler, yes, but only as an extension of your authority. Without your support, I’m nothing. The queen is in charge. That’s you.”
“But I gave it up to you.”
“Queens can’t do that.” He sighed and looked at his arm against the stone above his head. Grimacing, he lightly slammed his fist against it a few times. “I thought it could work, but…we don’t…think that much. We just follow instincts. We don’t think about what’s best. I’ve tried, but I can’t see it. That’s what the queen is for.”
Eapha felt her mouth go dry, remembering again Zalia screaming at her about what was happening on the surface. She never would have ordered that, would she? She’d thought it was an exaggeration—certainly Kiala had come to her afterward and told her it had to be—but Tooie was telling her it wasn’t.
The Sylph Hunter Page 24