“I hope you’re right,” Lacy said.
“Me too.”
“So where does that leave us?” Wyatt asked.
“Right where we started,” Lacy said. “Chasing after the witch.”
“It might be difficult to pick up her trail again without Phane’s soldiers catching up with us,” Wyatt said.
“She’s trying to get to Ithilian, so she has to be heading for a port,” Lacy said.
“That would be Stobi,” Ayela said. “It’s probably a day and a half away if we head straight there.”
By the following morning, Lacy was starting to fear that she wouldn’t be able to keep up any longer. She was exhausted and hurting all over, especially her feet. It was hard to imagine how Ayela’s men could move so quickly for so long wearing only sandals. Despite her pain and exhaustion, she didn’t fall behind, willing herself forward, step by step, until they caught sight of Druja.
She was nearing the outskirts of Stobi, walking as briskly as her deformed body would carry her. They only spotted her because she was walking down the main road between the Regency fortress and Stobi, apparently unafraid of encountering any of Phane’s men or agents.
“If we run, we can get ahead of her and lay an ambush where the road rounds that bluff,” Ayela’s lead man said, pointing into the distance.
Lacy felt like she was going to cry. She could barely keep up at the grueling pace they’d set … running was beyond her at this point.
“We’ll send half of the men ahead,” Wyatt said. “The rest of us will come up from behind in case she escapes.”
Ayela nodded her approval and the men separated into two forces, half of the Rangers and half of her men in each group.
Lacy felt a wave of relief. She couldn’t bear the thought of Druja escaping because of her.
Each group set out, the ambush team running through the jungle toward the bluff, while Ayela, Wren, and Lacy went with Wyatt and the remaining soldiers on a course that brought them to the road.
Ayela looked around nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Lacy asked.
“The Regency uses roads; we use the jungle,” Ayela said.
“Right now, we’ll make better time on the road,” Wyatt said. “Just keep your eyes open and be ready to retreat into the jungle if we see soldiers.”
Traveling on the relatively even surface of the road was so much easier than moving through the jungle, but Lacy also felt exposed and couldn’t help looking around nervously for signs of a threat. Everyone stopped in their tracks when the dragon roared.
Ayela put her hand over her mouth as Rankosi floated over the men poised on the bluff. Time seemed to slow-helplessness flooding into Lacy. A great gout of fire spewed forth from the dragon, igniting the jungle and scouring the bluff of life, leaving it smoldering and charred. She knew that no one could have survived such an attack.
It felt like she’d been punched in the gut. The horrible truth began to sink in-she’d lost the box and she simply didn’t have the power to take it back. Her feelings of despair transformed into terror when Rankosi turned his attention toward them, rising higher into the air with a thrust of his wings and then diving toward them with alarming speed. Everyone stood stock-still, frozen like prey as the moments ticked by until Rankosi flared his wings and landed in the road before them.
Fear broke. The Rangers fanned out, nocking arrows in preparation for a wholly suicidal attack.
Rankosi flicked his tail out, quicker than a cat, stabbing one of the Rangers through the chest, then casually bringing the warm corpse up to his mouth and slowly chewing the body before swallowing in exaggerated fashion. The rest of the Rangers backed away.
“You will come no farther,” Rankosi said. “Were it not for the princess in your midst, you would have already suffered the same fate as your ambush party.”
His head darted forward with blinding quickness, snapping up another man, this time one of Ayela’s. Again, he took his time chewing.
A volley of arrows rained against his scales, bouncing harmlessly away.
Rankosi laughed, a deep rumbling sound filled with derision, cut short when he snatched up another man. The Rangers backed farther away, sending another volley of arrows, this time aiming for the eyes. Several would have hit, except Rankosi simply blinked.
He reared back in preparation to lunge into the mass of men arrayed before him when Trajan came racing out of the jungle, screaming incoherently, charging the shade-controlled dragon with reckless and wild abandon. Rankosi looked bemused, redirecting his attention to Trajan, waiting for him to get close enough to eat, but then he flinched, a yelp of fear escaping from him as the null magic field brushed up against him. He tumbled backwards away from Trajan, scrambling desperately, rolling onto his feet and running several giant steps before taking flight, frustration and rage in his roar.
Trajan stopped in their midst, his men flowing out of the jungle to stand with their leader. Rankosi tipped his wing and dove, breathing a gout of orange-red fiery death at them. Lacy fell to her knees, throwing her hands over her head in expectation of sudden annihilation … but it didn’t come.
She heard the roar of the fire, saw the light glow brightly all around her, even felt hot air flow over her … but she wasn’t dead. She looked up just in time to see the last of the dragon fire washing over a perfectly spherical half-shell surrounding them. Only the few men standing outside the thirty-foot range of Trajan’s Goiri bone died in the attack.
Rankosi roared again, floating out over the jungle before turning toward Stobi, apparently abandoning his attack.
Trajan stalked up to his sister like he was going to hit her, then stopped, his expression morphing from one of fury to one of great relief, tears welling up in his eyes.
Ayela hugged him, then held him at arm’s length, appraising him with a mixture of hope and worry.
“Thank you, Trajan. That’s twice you’ve saved our lives in as many days.”
“Many soldiers come for you and Lady Reishi’s friends.”
“No, they’re coming for you and the bone,” Ayela said. “You have to flee. Go north to more familiar jungles. Phane cannot be allowed to get that cursed bone.”
Trajan smiled confidently, holding up the femur and testing its weight. “He won’t-at least not like he wants it.”
“Trajan, you promised me you wouldn’t go after him,” Ayela said, sudden alarm in her voice. “He has too many soldiers.”
He frowned, scratching his head. “I forgot about that.”
“I know,” Ayela whispered. “Go north.”
“No, I’ll stay with you in case the dragon returns.”
“Might not be a bad idea,” Wyatt said.
“If Trajan gets too close to the box, it’ll open,” Lacy said. “We can’t risk it.”
“And how will you stand against a dragon without me?” Trajan shouted, suddenly furious. “I alone can defeat magic!”
Lacy was taken aback and a bit fearful. Wyatt eased closer to her, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Trajan!” Ayela snapped.
He seemed suddenly surprised by her presence, then he started looking around quickly, his head jerking this way and that before he fixed on a point in the empty air, staring at it as if there was a dragon poised to strike. He turned and ran screaming into the jungle, terror and madness fading with each stride. His men followed without a word as if such occurrences were not uncommon.
“He’s getting worse,” Ayela said.
“What do you mean?” Lacy asked.
“Ever since he took possession of that bone, he’s been slowly losing his mind. I’m afraid it might already be too late to get him back.”
“I’m sorry,” Lacy whispered, putting her hand on Ayela’s arm.
“Me too,” she said with a forced smile. “We should go; the road isn’t safe.”
They moved back into the jungle and turned north toward Stobi, traveling parallel to the road but far enough away that they coul
dn’t be spotted through the dense foliage. Again, Lacy found herself searching her mind for a strategy or tactic that would lead to success against the witch and the dragon, but she couldn’t find a single one.
The depressing truth was, she was simply outmatched. A Sin’Rath witch against a hunting party comprised of mostly men had a decisive advantage, and confronting a demon-possessed dragon was nothing short of suicidally insane, yet she and her companions pressed on until they stepped past the edge of the jungle into the farm fields surrounding the medium-sized port town of Stobi.
Lacy stopped, frustration and hopelessness finally overcoming her drive toward a potentially fatal confrontation. The death of half of the men she’d been traveling with weighed on her conscience. She had enlisted their assistance, she had set their course, she had delivered them to their doom.
“What are we going to do once we find her?”
The rest of her company stopped.
“I was thinking we’d kill her and take the box, then commandeer a ship and head for Ithilian,” Wyatt said.
“Do you think this is a joke, Captain? You just lost half your men-dead.”
Wyatt stepped close to her, forcing her to back away a little. “You needn’t remind me what I’ve lost, Princess. I can name every single man who’s died under my command … they were all good men, every one of them, and they were my friends. I’ve been fighting this war from the beginning, so I understand what’s at stake better than most. If you have a plan that will improve our odds of success, then I would hear it.”
Lacy held her ground even though she could feel her knees trembling. “That’s just it, we don’t have a plan. She’ll charm you and your men the moment you get too close, and then what?”
“We just need to get close enough to put a few arrows into her,” Wyatt said.
“That’s assuming we can catch her off guard,” Ayela said. “If she sees us coming, your arrows will be useless.”
“She probably thinks we’re all dead,” Wren said. “That might give us a chance to surprise her.”
“But not if we go into town as a group,” Ayela said. “Regency guards don’t take kindly to soldiers in strange uniforms.”
“Fair enough,” Wyatt said, dropping his pack and pulling out a worn leather cloak. “We’ll go in with three teams of two, make our way to the docks and locate the witch. Everyone else will withdraw into the jungle and wait for us to return.”
Lacy shook her head, “No. I’m coming with you.”
“Are you any good with a bow? Can you fight?”
Her face fell. “Not really.”
“Then you stay here,” Wyatt said. “You’ll be safer and we’ll be able to do our job without worrying about you.”
“But … the box is my responsibility,” Lacy protested.
“You are a princess,” Wyatt said. “As such, you’ll have to become accustomed to sending others to fight for you. Now is as good a time as any to learn that lesson.”
Lacy felt helpless, yet again. She knew Wyatt was right, yet desperately didn’t want to accept it. Tears started to well up in her eyes even over her desperate desire to put on a brave face.
Wyatt smiled gently. “Deal in what is, not what if. That’s one of Lord Reishi’s favorite sayings, and there’s wisdom in those words. The result is what matters and we stand a far better chance of getting that box back if you stay here.”
“He’s right, Lacy,” Wren said. “If we go with him, he’ll be too busy trying to protect us to focus on the job at hand.”
Lacy swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded tightly. “Be safe, Captain.”
“I’ll do my best,” Wyatt said, donning his cloak.
“I’ll go with you,” Ayela said. “I may have a thing or two in my bag that could prove useful.”
“Very well,” Wyatt said, selecting the rest of the detail. Once they were away, Lacy, Wren, and the remaining men withdrew into the jungle to wait.
The minutes seemed to drag on interminably until Lacy couldn’t stand it any longer. It had only been half an hour, but it seemed like days.
“What’s taking so long?” she asked no one in particular.
“They’ll take their shot when they have it,” a Ranger answered.
She wanted to say more, but thought better of it. An hour passed, then another. By this time, the Rangers were starting to look worried as well. A sound from the jungle brought a surge of relief. Lacy stood quickly, taking a few steps toward the sound just in time to see a man appear out of thin air, wisps of black smoke wreathing his form for just a moment. He smiled at her wickedly and then vanished again. A scream of pain was cut short by a gurgling noise somewhere behind her.
Another wraithkin appeared behind a Ranger, stabbing him through the heart, then vanishing. Pandemonium erupted among the Rangers as they scrambled to pair off, back to back, but their efforts were in vain. One by one, the wraithkin picked them off. Lacy watched in horror while the men around her died.
One Ranger got lucky and drove his sword into the mouth of one of the wraithkin, killing him almost instantly, but then died almost as quickly when another appeared behind him and cut his throat. The very one-sided battle seemed to last only seconds. The sudden quiet was filled with the soft noises of men breathing their last. Lacy and Wren stood in the center of a ring of carnage, bodies spilling their blood into the dirt-yet more names for Wyatt to remember.
Two wraithkin stood before them, smiling menacingly, fresh blood slowly dripping off the points of their long, black knives.
“Hello, Princess,” one said.
“Hello, child,” the other said.
“Prince Phane isn’t finished with you.”
“Yes, it was very rude of you to leave without saying goodbye.”
They both laughed.
“You will come with us.”
“There is no escaping.”
Lacy pondered the totality of her defeat while she walked toward Stobi. A kind of detachment settled over her, keeping her despair at bay and giving her a few moments of clarity. The question her mind kept coming back to was: Why did Phane still want her alive? With the box on its way to Torin, she was of no use to him and yet she was still alive.
The wraithkin took them to the docks, where they met a platoon of soldiers led by Drogan. He was talking with the captain of the city guard. Lacy realized in that moment that Drogan had been Phane’s chief agent of deception. He had guided her to this place and she’d trusted him because she’d needed his assistance so desperately. Another lesson learned the hard way-and much too late.
“We killed three Ruathan Rangers,” the captain said, gesturing to three corpses lined up on the docks, “but we think a few more got away.”
Lacy strained to see if one of the men was Wyatt, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn’t see him, then feeling a pang of guilt a moment later. Three more lives gone.
“As long as the witch got through to her ship, Prince Phane will be happy,” Drogan said.
“She did,” the captain said, pointing out to sea. “Her vessel has almost reached the horizon.”
“Very happy indeed,” Drogan said, noticing Lacy for the first time. “Hello, Princess. It seems that we’ll be traveling together again.”
Lacy strode up to him and spit right in his face. He smiled humorlessly, very deliberately wiping away the spittle while a soldier grabbed her from behind and pulled her several steps backward. She struggled for a moment until the soldier wrenched her arm, eliciting a scream.
“Stop!” Drogan said. “The princess and the girl are not to be harmed.”
Before Lacy could respond, the ocean lit up so brilliantly that everybody ducked instinctively, shielding their eyes. It was as if a second sun had materialized not a league out to sea. Moments later, a deafening crack washed over them, sending everybody to their knees, covering their ears as best they could. The light dimmed and the noise died away, leaving the world in awe and terror. Birds and animals fell silent-even the br
eeze through the trees seemed to still.
Everyone slowly stood, facing the water and searching for the ship that had been at the edge of the world, but it was gone, leaving nothing but a roiling ocean where it had been floating only moments before. Lacy had never seen such power, and from the looks of it, neither had any of the men surrounding her.
More importantly, she had no idea what had just happened, and not just to the witch and the ship, but to the box. Was it sinking to bottom of the ocean? If so, would that be enough to keep Phane from retrieving it? Somehow, she doubted that mere water would prove to be a sufficient barrier to his ambitions. But what if the box itself had been destroyed? And the keystone with it? Surely such a devastating release of energy could destroy it.
“Huh,” Drogan said, shrugging to himself indifferently. “Secure the prisoners in the carriage. We’ll be leaving at once.”
Chapter 23
Alexander woke with a start, sitting up quickly, his all around sight coming into sharp focus almost instantly. The sudden movement made the pain in his head spike. He clenched his blind eyes shut and took a slow deep breath while surveying his surroundings.
He was locked in a bare cell, five feet on a side with a stone wall to the back and bars for the other three walls. There was a chill in the air and little light to see by. More curiously, there were a number of the same points of light floating around him that he’d seen in his bunkroom at Titus Grant’s estate. He sat up with his back to the wall, pondering their significance, the slave collar chafing his neck with every movement.
The initial assessment of his situation wasn’t encouraging, but he still hurt too much to worry about anything else at the moment, so he just kept breathing, tenderly feeling the lump on the back of his head where he’d been hit.
“Chloe?” he said in his mind.
“Oh, thank the Maker you’re awake. I was so worried.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Over a day, My Love. I thought I might have lost you … again.”
“You’ll never lose me, Little One. What happened to Anja?”
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