Tyrant Trouble (Mudflat Magic)

by Phoebe Matthews

  The sun disappeared behind the ridge.

  The last ray cut through a gap in the peaks, a single gold pathway on the hilltop. I caught my breath and glanced at Erlan.

  He stared where I pointed, his face drawn into ridges of thick flesh, tense with anger and confusion.

  There was no reason to think my scheme would work, that Erlan would believe the city was destroyed by fever on my word alone, but it was my best shot. He might still follow Tarvik, determined to see for himself the extent of destruction and the number of survivors.

  All I could hope for now was to buy them traveling time. They were the warriors, not me, so part of the game was up to them.

  The fires meant Nance and Lor had returned. Were they still there, on the far side of the hill? What if the flames spread out of control and caught them?

  Erlan shook me. “You have seen lifedrainers?”

  “Oh yes. Hovering above the funeral fires.”

  What I really wanted to do was shout, “Run! Keep going!”

  If Nance stumbled or faltered or Erlan discovered there were only two humans on that far hill, she and Lor would be trapped. Shaking with fear, I stared at the western hills. Because we had planned one more trick and now I hoped she’d skip it and escape.

  And then I saw her.

  And then Erlan saw what I saw except that I knew the script and he saw the performance.

  His hand dropped from my arm. I heard his indrawn breath.

  “There, you see! One of the lifedrainers, gathering the spirits of the dead,” I cried. “Daughter of the Sun, save them!”

  Drifting out from a cliff's edge and down through the light shaft, huge and black with tattered edges outlined against the last sun rays, was Nance's latest version of a hang glider, a triangular span of wings as wide as a tent. She slowly circled low in the sky, through the rift between the smoking hills.

  The effect was greater than Nance or I had hoped it would be.

  The play of fading sun streaks behind the thick screen of smoke from the burning trees made the wings appear both terrifying and ghostly, black as evil and tinged blood red.

  The guards around us fell to their knees and covered their heads with their arms.

  Sure he was stunned to silence, but I didn't dare let Erlan think too long about what he saw, in case he noticed a small figure dangling below the wingspan.

  As the glider drifted, I began to chant, “Daughter of the Sun, take our spirits. Do not let the evil ones have us, for the sake of your loyal servant Kovat and his brave brother Erlan, do not let them capture us.”

  Erlan's mouth hung slack. His sword hung loose in his hand, its point touching the ground.

  I backed slowly away.

  His guards cowered on the ground, their hands over their faces.

  When I reached the temple gates, I turned and ran. I raced across the courtyard, through Nance's rooms, through the secret door to the stable. I slid it open, stepped out, shut it behind me, ran out of the empty stable and hurried to the building's corner.

  The sun had dropped and the sky darkened. Now hidden by the thick screen of smoke, Nance and Lor would toss the wings into the closest fire. Then they would head down the far side of the hills to where they had tethered their horses and get out of there. From some distant point they would stop to watch.

  If Erlan remained in the city, Nance and Lor would leave forever. We had agreed. Nance had promised. She had done all she could. And Lor would see to it that she kept her promise, no matter how much she might beg to return for me or to join Tarvik.

  “You must save yourselves,” I had told her and she had wept and stormed, but in the end she had promised.

  I did not completely trust her but I trusted Lor to take her away to safety.

  Now I needed to try to save myself. I stared into the shadows and saw no one between me and the castle. Creeping between the protective scrub trees, I tried not to touch their brittle, rustling twigs. With each step my robe caught at some small branch. I clutched it around me. The cracking of dry wood seemed huge, louder than his shout.

  “The templekeeper,” I heard Erlan scream. “The dark one! Where is she?”

  His voice cut the silence. I heard his men moving and calling to each other.

  “Search the courtyard!”

  “Search the temple!”

  “Go in! I command it!”

  Well that sucked. Had I underestimated their superstition? Were they really going to stick around?

  “There is fever here,” a voice protested.

  Good for you. Stick by your convictions, whoever you are.

  “There may be dead inside.”

  Whether or not they feared lifedrainers, they all knew fever, remembered plagues. There must have been some really grim outbreaks in the past to make them argue now with Erlan.

  While they hesitated outside the temple, I ran beneath the shadows of the trees to the castle wall and touched the latch stone. Behind me voices rose. I expected them to rush around the wall and see me. But in the dusk they hesitated, arguing at the temple gate, not yet thinking to separate and search the grounds. When they worked up the nerve they would run through the temple with its many archways and cupboards and passages behind the altar, thinking I might hide in a small space.

  “She carries the fever,” I heard someone mutter, not far away from me.

  Ah. Clever of me to vomit on their feet.

  I hurried inside the secret passageway. My hands pressed against the stones and I slid the door back into place. In darkness I closed out the shouts of Erlan's army.

  The stale air was as cold as sleet. It seeped through my temple robe. The darkness pressed against my face and filled my ears with silence. I stood in terrifying blackness, pulled my cloak tighter around me, and would have traded just about anything for a flashlight.

  Okay, so I wasn't worried about lifedrainers or fever but there were worse fates. Had others come here to hide in times past, only to be trapped, maybe later found dead from cold or hunger or terror? If I had a light, would I see gleaming bones on the dark floor?

  Gran had known that bit of magic where she could open her hand and shine a light from her palm. The light only lasted thirty seconds. Maybe not much use, still, I’d feel a lot better if I could light the passage for half a minute and be absolutely certain what was there. Then I could feel my way along the walls without unpleasant surprises.

  I had stashed a small sack of food and a jug of water for myself while I waited for Erlan's army to arrive. My supplies wouldn’t last long. If Erlan stayed, what could I do? And how could I know when he left?

  What if their supplies were more than we'd guessed? What if Erlan decided to stay around, move into the castle, get a start on stealing Kovat's lands? What if I opened the secret door and found myself staring into the face of a guard? What if the latch stones stuck and I couldn’t open the doors?

  My panic went into high gear.

  This could be my tomb.

  I felt my way along the walls in a darkness heavier than I remembered. I couldn't see my own hands. Some light must have filtered into the secret passage from the rug-covered doorways the other times I had been here. Now all the openings were sealed with stone and I had only touch to guide me.

  When my foot bumped into my food pack, I sank down beside it and hugged it to my chest. Fear drove hunger away, or maybe it was the nausea thing left over from too much close up with Erlan. Why hadn't I thought to grab a temple lamp? If I had, what use would it be? I knew what my prison looked like, a long stone corridor.

  All right, so I now lived in a narrow prison. A few torches to cast shadows around the stones might have made the prison bearable, unless light revealed grinning skulls. What is it about darkness that is so much more horrifying than cold or hunger or even pain?

  By now the night outside would be as black as the corridor, nothing but the stars to break the dark. Yeah, I could use a few stars in here.

  When the sun rose and its light touched
the castle walls, would that warm them? I had never been in the passage at daytime. Maybe in the summer it might be warm, but in winter, day and night were pretty much the same. How would I know when the night ended? And even if I knew, what should I do? The original plan was for me to wait until Erlan was frightened away. Then the door would open and Nance would call.

  Dumb me, Erlan would decide to hang around, count on it, maybe for a couple of months. I should figure a way out, maybe sneak out at night and head down the mountainside and find the place where I had entered this nightmare because, oh yeah, I knew a few survival tricks. True, they all required a car or phone or an all-night deli, and none of them would be much help if I ran into a bear. Or ran out of food or water. Or had to spend a night in the forest alone.

  Maybe I should throw myself on Erlan's mercy. Death by beheading was sounding better and better.

  I slid slowly down to the floor and drew the temple robe across my face to close out my fears. Huddled in thick velvet, I hoped to hold my own warmth in around me. A brighter bulb would have stashed her wool cloak here to give herself another layer. If hunger did not drive me to open the door, the cold would. I couldn't remain here for very long.

  My bones stiffened until it seemed to me that winter's frost lined my clothing. Slowly I sat up, pulled open my backpack with numb fingers, and found the cheese.

  I could imagine Nance saying, “That's you, Stargazer, living on cheese and bread because you don't know how to cook.”

  While I nibbled at the cheese like a demented mouse, I tried to decide what to do next.

  Would Erlan have the courage to sleep in Kovat's castle? Or would he be torn between greed and fear? He might camp outside the walls tonight, not knowing how fever spread. But if his ragtag army was down to the last supplies, they would be driven by hunger to search the castle for food. If I was going to escape I should probably act quickly, find the latch stone to Tarvik's room and pray no one in Erlan's army decided to bed down there on the bare floor. With the night to hide me, I might find an unguarded doorway and somehow sneak past Erlan's sleeping men.

  My hands slid along the rough stone, feeling for the indentation of a latch stone or any other sign to tell me exactly where I was in the corridor. The stones were ice cold and sharp with chipped edges that caught at my skin.

  My fingers felt numb. I couldn't even tell where one stone met another.

  How far was I from the outer entrance, how near Tarvik's room? Or had I gone well past it? And how long was the passage? I thought I must be close to the end, but did it end or did it wind back and forth between the walls?

  I leaned against the wall and almost gave way to sobbing. If I did, I might never make it back to sanity. To lie down in snow and rest was to freeze to death, right? I suspected the same would happen now if I stopped walking. Shuffling away from the wall, my hands outstretched, I reached forward to find the corner.

  My fingers touched warm flesh.

  I screamed. The sound tore from my throat. My mind did not direct it. There was no one to hear me or help me, no one who would, nothing a scream could gain. But all the fear that tightened my muscles and blinded my mind now ripped out of me, my throat so tight and raw I could almost taste blood in my shrieks. Worse, I could not stop.

  My voice echoed off the narrow walls.

  I was caught in a strong grasp and pulled forward into a circle of arms. I tried to struggle free, twisted helplessly, kept on screaming, tried to scratch and bite, tried to move my leg and get enough room to jab with my knee.

  A hand slid up my back and forced my head forward, pushing my face down into a shoulder covered by thick fur. With my mouth full of animal hair and my ear warmed by his face pressing against it, my screams were muffled enough that I heard his voice.

  “Stargazer! Stargazer! It's me.”

  Tarvik. I let my body go limp. He loosened his hold.

  A whole bunch of insults crowded my thoughts. Couldn’t say a one. All I could do was stand with his arms holding me up and pick away at the animal hairs stuck to my wet tongue.

  “What are you doing?” he asked. He could not see me but he could feel me moving.

  I spit out the last hair. My throat ached from screaming. My eyes were hot with tears.

  Through my fury I managed to gasp, “Tarvik, I am trying to decide whether to hug you or kick you.”

  He snickered and said, “Let me choose.”

  “Why are you here?”

  I thought about smacking him but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

  “When we reached the valley we found we could secure the pass. And so I came back to see how it was with you.”

  “You dummy, Erlan will see your horse and know you're here.”

  I wanted to push him away, beat him with my fists, punch whatever I could reach, I was so angry. But in the darkness, I also wanted him near enough to touch. I wasn't sure which of us was clinging to the other. I simply lacked the courage to let go of him.

  “Calm down, girl. I left the valley with Artur. This sunrise I sent him back with my horse and came the rest of the way on foot. When I reached the castle gate I saw Erlan's men searching the hilltop and so I came in here to hide.”

  “And then stood silent so you could shock the hell out of me?”

  “I did not know you were here until you touched me.”

  “But you didn't holler!”

  “Stargazer, I had no time to fear. You screamed so soon. I knew your voice.”

  “You knew my voice screaming?”

  He hesitated. If he hadn't done that, I might have bought his line.

  “You rat, you knew I was here before I touched you.”

  “No. Yes. I was not sure. I heard you moving along the wall. I have stood often enough in this place to know it has no sounds. And as no one but you knows this way, I thought it must be you.”

  “You could have said something.”

  “How could I be sure it was you?”

  I said slowly, “You win. I'll admit I'm happier now you're here. But why did you come back? You've risked your life for what? You can't help me, not if Erlan sticks around.”

  “I can take you out of here before you fall ill,” he said, his arms still around me. “You are shaking with chill. Erlan's men did a quick search of the castle and now they have their cook fires set up outside. None are inside.”

  He turned me around and led me through the blackness that terrified me but was home to him. We left through the secret door to his room. The room was dark shadows with an odd streak of moonlight coming in through the narrow window opening at the ceiling's edge.

  “That painting of me on the wall,” I said, although the room was so dark I couldn't see it now. “When did you paint it?”

  He ignored my question. “Listen. Do you hear anyone?”

  I stopped and listened. The shadows sang with a low steady layer of sound that had no source.

  “I hear my blood pounding in my ears,” I whispered, and then I heard it, a distant murmur of voices. “Some of them are in the castle.”

  He nodded and drew me back across the room, opened the secret door and slipped back into the passageway, then closed the door. We stood in the darkness, motionless.

  “Guess they decided not to believe my story of fever. They must plan to stay. We could be trapped here until we die.”

  “I can't think of a nicer person to die with. But I have to consider my people.”

  I did wish I could see his face. His tone was light, teasing, and I didn't believe it. I reached toward his voice until my fingers touched his face and I traced the heavy frown line between his brows. I finished his thought.

  “If Erlan stays, he will track them down and eventually figure out how to get past your guards.”

  “Yes.”

  He reached up and caught my outstretched fingers and I clung to his hands. I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor and wrap my cloak over my head and pretend I was anywhere but in that black prison. As long as I could tou
ch him and know he was there, I could stay sort of sane.

  “We have to find a way to stop Erlan,” I said.

  “I can stop Erlan. I can search the castle until I find him and I can kill him. And then his men will outnumber me. But after they kill me, will they stay?”

  “After they kill you?”

  “Yes. I think that might work. With Erlan dead, his army will turn homeward. Their rations must be very low. Without Erlan to push them, they won't want to waste time searching further.”

  “After they kill you?” I said again. “What do you mean, after they kill you?”

  His hands tightened around mine. “Stargazer, we must go along the passage until we find where they are. Then I will go after my uncle. You may have to hide here for a day or two until they are gone. Then find my guards.”

  “No!” I screamed, and he pressed his open palm over my mouth for a brief moment.

  I bit my lip to hold back my voice.

  Tears burned and I reached into my pocket for my handkerchief. No time for crying, not with this delusional guy on a hero kick. Somehow I had to find another way out. My fingers touched the vial.

  “Oh. Tarvik. Wait, let me tell you,” I whispered.

  My words tumbled and slurred, almost beyond my control, because I thought I had an answer, I simply did not know how to use it. I explained about the vial, which maybe contained a drug, and about the box of powder I was sure was the stuff Alakar had given him. Not fatal, but it had done the job of knocking out Tarvik.

  “Yes, that sounds right, she used a powder. But what use is it to us?”

  “First we have to find out where your uncle’s men are. Then we can decide what to do. And that means no big brave combat challenge from you. This isn't a tournament and nobody will award your dead body a prize.”

  He laughed and it was such a normal sound. We felt our way along the silent passage, stopping several times when we reached doorways known to Tarvik. At each, he found the hidden catch and inched the door open, peering through to darkness. We listened. We heard nothing.

  Leaving the passage, we crept across empty rooms and cold courtyards, looking for reflected light from lamps or fires, listening for sounds beyond the night wind.