He dragged himself away from where Shael lay and toward Jessa. He found her resting at an odd angle, her back bent and twisted with her legs flopped over a box. For a moment, he thought Shael had broken her spine. Then she rolled, moving her legs with her as she did.
“Jessa. Can you move?”
She pulled her legs in and moved into a crouch. Her hair hung in front of her face. One hand clutched her side. “Probably still better than you.” She tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. Jessa got to her knees and looked past Rsiran. Her eyes narrowed as she saw what he’d done. “What happened with Shael?”
“I didn’t want to,” Rsiran said.
“Better than the bastard deserves. He was supposed to be our friend. And then he does this to us?”
It wasn’t the first time Shael had hurt them, but Jessa hadn’t been there when he’d put Rsiran in chains.
She stood, still holding her side, and limped past Rsiran. Rsiran watched as she knelt over Shael and looked at his injury. Then she picked up a long vial with a needle attached. Thick yellow liquid oozed inside. She made as if to plunge it into his arm.
“Wait—”
She looked over. “I don’t want to risk him coming after us.”
Rsiran pulled himself toward her, trying to stay away from the growing pool of blood around Shael. “Not sure he can. Might need that.”
She frowned, looking at the needle, but nodded. “Can you Slide yet?”
Rsiran focused on the far part of the room to test whether he could Slide. Usually, he had to step into the Slide to make it work, though he had Slid without moving while in Venass. If he could drag himself forward in the Slide, he might be able to do it.
It felt as if he started to Slide, but failed again.
He looked at Jessa and shook his head. “Not yet.”
Rsiran managed to move his legs. Relief spread through him as sensation began to return. Pain mixed in, the sense of thousands of needles stabbing into his flesh all at once, but he welcomed that sensation. Anything was better than the absence of feeling.
Jessa hurried over to him and leaned down.
He moved one arm, resting on the other, and pulled her toward him. He still didn’t have much strength, but years of working at the forge had made him strong enough to pull Jessa down to him. Holding her against him, he inhaled her scent. They sat like that for a moment.
“Thank you for coming for me,” he told her.
She shook her head. “You still had to save me.”
“You’re doing the work. I’m just tagging along. You might have to sneak us out of here until I can Slide again.”
Jessa flicked her eyes toward the door. Her jaw jutted forward and she nodded slowly. “If I don’t have to carry you, we might be able to sneak out.” She pointed to her side. “Think I broke a rib when Shael threw me. Gonna hurt for a while.”
Rsiran snorted. “We make a perfect pair then.”
“We always did.” She smiled and took his hand. “If they catch us…”
She didn’t need to finish. Rsiran knew as well as Jessa what would happen. There would be no hesitation to keep them fully sedated from now on. This would be their only chance.
“Then you’ll have to be really good.”
She punched him lightly in the shoulder. “I am really good.”
He smiled and took a deep breath. “I need my knives.”
“Can you just… you know… pull them?”
He tried, focusing on the three that were sunk into the wall. He was too weak to move them. Rsiran shook his head.
Jessa limped toward the wall and grunted before returning to Rsiran. “They’re too deep.”
“How deep.”
“Buried into the stone.”
Rsiran swallowed. He’d not had much strength to push as Shael nearly injected him with the slithca syrup so he’d focused on Ilphaesn. How had that given him such strength? He doubted that he’d be able to use the same to pull the knives back to him. “Guess I’m not getting them back.”
Jessa laughed.
“I need something to use.”
She nodded and started around the room. When she came back, she had the broken knife Firell had in his cell, as well as the one she’d thrown at Shael. “These are all I can find that’s lorcith.”
“You keep the good one,” he said. Better for Jessa to have the whole knife. Rsiran took the broken one. It would work as well as anything. And if he could push with enough force, even the broken tang could do damage. “Help me stand?”
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to?”
He shook his head. “Not sure about anything anymore.”
Jessa studied him a moment and then slipped an arm around him and pulled. She grunted again as she did, the strain likely pulling on her injured ribs, but she pulled him up.
Rsiran nearly toppled over before gaining his balance. He wobbled for a moment and then tried taking a step. His legs felt weak, but they held. Jessa made certain to stay next to him, keeping her arm around him as they moved.
“We aren’t going to move very fast… this way,” he said, still working his tongue in his mouth. “Maybe you need… to go on without me. Get help.”
She looked over at him and frowned. “If I leave you, you’re as good as dead. And it’s unlikely we’d ever find you again.”
“But you’d be safe.”
She shook her head. “You can be so stupid sometimes, Rsiran. What makes you think I want to be safe if you’re not?”
He leaned and kissed her on the cheek. “Time to show me… how skilled you are.”
She kissed him back, this time on the lips. She still tasted of mint. “I think I’ve already shown you.”
They made their way toward the door. With each step, Rsiran felt his strength returning. By the time they reached the door, he felt strong enough to stand on his own.
“There’s a long hall running outside the door. One end leads to steps. Upper level is where we were before. Other way is toward Firell’s cell.”
“I think we have to go up.”
Jessa nodded. “Won’t be easy. If there’s anyone in the dining hall, then we’ll be stuck. And we don’t know anything about what’s on the other side of that door. We could get through only to find another dozen guards on the other side. We can’t sneak through there.”
Rsiran frowned. The odds weren’t in their favor if they went that way, not with only the two of them, and not with him as weakened as he was. “What if we had help?”
“Who’s going to help us down here?”
“Firell.”
She shot him a look. “That bastard is nearly as bad as Shael. He could have warned us about what the Forgotten planned.”
“They’ve got his daughter.”
“Josun has his daughter.”
Rsiran nodded. “And I have Josun.”
Jessa took a deep breath and then sighed. “I don’t like it, Rsiran.”
“Do we have another choice? Besides, if he looks like he’s going to betray us again, then we just sink the needle with the syrup into his neck. Let him sleep for a while.”
Jessa looked back to where Shael lay on the ground before glancing toward the door. “Are you strong enough to stop him if he tries anything?”
Rsiran didn’t feel particularly strong yet, but each moment his strength improved. “I can subdue him if needed.” He held out the broken lorcith blade and pushed on it. It hovered briefly in the air before dropping back into his hand. He’d need to push much harder than he was accustomed to if Firell tried betraying them, but he could stop him if it was needed.
Jessa shook her head. “I still don’t like it.”
Then she pulled open the door and slipped into the hall, heading toward Firell’s cell. Rsiran followed after. Jessa moved silently with the practiced steps of a sneak. Rsiran tried to mimic her but didn’t have the same ability to move quietly. He hoped he wasn’t the reason they were discovered.
Lanterns staggered on t
he walls cast a soft glow. Rsiran had to duck as he moved along. The low-lying ceiling brushed the top of his head. Jessa stopped at the next door and looked back at him. When he nodded, she slipped the charm off her neck and used it to turn the lock on Firell’s cell door before placing it back around her neck.
The door opened silently and they slipped inside. Rsiran closed the door behind them.
A single lantern glowed inside. Next to it, Firell rested.
Firell looked up. “You already got what you need from me—” He cut off and frowned. “Shael send you?”
Jessa shook her head. “Shael’s dead.”
A dark emotion flashed across his eyes. Disappointment? Anger? Then it was gone.
“How?”
“He poisoned me,” Rsiran said, stepping past Jessa. “Gave me something that suppresses my abilities.”
Firell sniffed. “Explains why you’re here.”
“Does it?” Jessa asked.
Firell looked at her. Rsiran thought he was Sighted, but what if Firell had another ability as well?
“I don’t know another way out of here,” he said. “They covered my head before they brought me down. And if the poison is the same as they give me, I don’t know how long it will last.”
“You can move.”
Firell frowned. “You couldn’t?”
Rsiran shook his head.
“Maybe they give me a weaker dose. Just enough my Sight don’t work. Leaves me blind here in the dark.” He shivered. “Nothing but the rats to keep me company. That and other things.”
“We need your help,” Rsiran said. “We don’t know how many are out there.”
Firell snorted. “Too many to slip past, that’s for damn sure.” He looked at Jessa. “I know Brusus thinks you’re a skilled sneak, but this is beyond what even you can safely do.” He shook his head. “Best hide until Rsiran can Slide again. Then you can get out.”
“We don’t know how long that will be. And we aren’t waiting until we’re caught again.”
Firell shrugged again. “Why you think I’d help you?”
“Because I can get you to Josun.”
Firell tensed and looked up at him. “Why would I want to see him again?”
“You want Lena back, don’t you?”
Firell shook his head. “She’s gone to me no matter what I do. Don’t matter if I find Josun.”
“You’re giving up on her?” She didn’t bother to hide the disgust in her voice.
“Not giving up. Practical. You’re in my line of work long enough, you learn when it’s time to be practical. I know what he’s done to her. If she still lives, she’s too far for me to find anyway.”
Jessa turned back to Rsiran. She made no effort to disguise the anger flashing on her face. “I thought we knew him better than this.”
“I thought I knew Shael better,” Rsiran said. He hadn’t suspected either Shael or Firell to betray them, but both had.
“Shael was a fool,” Firell said. “Always thinking about coin, never looking beyond that. Never could trust him.”
“Seems to me you’re no different from Shael,” Rsiran said.
Firell leaned forward and gripped his legs. “I like having coin, but that wasn’t what motivated me. I always did what I could for my family. Except it wasn’t enough.” He shook his head. “Not when the Elvraeth got involved. Nothing I did could keep them safe, no matter what I tried.”
Jessa didn’t look back at him. “He’s not the Elvraeth. They’re not the Elvraeth. They’re Forgotten, and I’m beginning to think there was a good reason for it.” She started to turn away before pausing. “Doing nothing hurts them more than if you tried and failed.”
She moved past Rsiran and into the hall.
Rsiran looked at Firell, wishing there was something he could say that would make him change his mind. Though he’d betrayed them, Rsiran couldn’t bring himself to hate Firell the way he did Shael. At least Firell had a reason for his betrayal, one Rsiran may not agree with, but could understand.
“You should have told us,” he said.
“Would it have mattered?”
“Not now, it doesn’t. But had you told us before, you know Brusus would have done anything to help you. We’re his family too. We would have been there for you.”
Rsiran turned to follow Jessa out into the hall. They’d wasted enough time with Firell.
Firell called after him. “What do you know of family?”
Rsiran hesitated at the door. “When they learned about my ability, my own family stopped caring about me. They banished me. Brusus took me in.” He turned and looked back at Firell. “He helped me understand what it means to have a family. And family is the reason I risked myself coming here. Because I would do anything to keep them safe.”
He stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving Firell behind.
Chapter 30
Jessa stood between the shadows cast by the lanterns hanging on the walls. She tipped her head forward, though wasn’t quite tall enough to brush the ceiling as she walked, not like Rsiran.
“We’ve wasted too much time on him,” she whispered.
Rsiran wondered. Firell wasn’t like Shael. He hadn’t wanted to betray them. “Still think you can sneak us out?”
“Still not able to Slide?”
Rsiran focused on a spot two steps in front of him and attempted a Slide. It happened slowly, like moving through mud, and a foul odor filled his nose as he emerged, but he Slid. Then he collapsed against the wall.
He struggled to catch his breath. “Hard. Works, but hard.”
Jessa bit her lip. “Then we sneak.”
They made their way along the hall. When would the next guards come through? Had Shael sent them away as he came in to dose Rsiran? It seemed unlikely. More likely he’d come ahead of the Forgotten woman, the one he’d called Inna.
They wouldn’t have much more time before she came looking for him.
And what about Jessa? She was supposed to be locked up as well. If one of her guards discovered she’d escaped, they’d come after her.
Rsiran paused at the door to the room where he’d been kept. Shael looked to have moved. The pool of blood smeared across the ground, different from when they’d been there. He lay more on his side. His split stomach heaved with each breath. Glassy eyes looked over at them.
Shael opened his mouth as if to say something. Rsiran didn’t wait to hear what it was. He pushed the broken knife at Shael’s head, catching him between the eyes hard enough to leave an imprint, then pulled it back to him.
Jessa glanced at him before looking into the room and nodding.
The effort of pushing on the lorcith lessened, giving him hope that they might get away.
They reached the stairs. The door atop the stairs was closed.
Rsiran grabbed Jessa’s hand and held her from climbing. She frowned at him, but he ignored her. Instead, he focused on lorcith. In the room above them, he sensed a knife—possibly one of Jessa’s—and a crossbow bolt. Probably two guards, but there might be more.
“What is it?” Jessa whispered.
“Two, I think. Can’t tell if there are others.”
She nodded. “You’ll have to go first. I’ll use the needle if I need to.”
Rsiran slipped past her and climbed the stairs, careful with each step so they didn’t creak under his weight. At the top, he paused to listen.
Muted voices drifted through the door. Rsiran listened but couldn’t tell how many were on the other side. Possibly more than two. He’d have to be quick.
He shifted his focus to the lorcith in the room, holding an awareness of it in his mind.
Then he pushed the door open.
“Finally come back from beating on him…”
The guard looked over, and his eyes widened.
Rsiran pushed the broken knife at him, striking him in the chest, then quickly pulled it back.
Another guard jumped to his feet. He pulled a crossbow up with a sw
ift motion. Rsiran was faster, pushing on the bolt, sending it flipping up from the crossbow to sink into the man’s shoulder. He cried out, but it was silenced as Rsiran again pushed the broken knife, sending it directly at his head.
That left the knife he’d sensed before entering. It was moving in the room.
Rsiran sensed the knife and gave it a slight push. Someone grunted.
He turned in that direction. Near the fire pit a man crouched, working his way toward them. His eyes flashed a deep green. Rsiran gave the knife another push, but the man vanished before it could do any damage.
“Damn,” he whispered. He hadn’t expected someone able to Slide. “Anyone else?”
Jessa looked around the room. “No one I see. Just these two?”
He shook his head. “A Slider. Disappeared before I could turn his knife against him.”
Jessa clenched her jaw and nodded. “Time to move quickly.”
“So much for sneaking?”
She breathed out a laugh. “Not sure it was ever going to be about sneaking.”
He hurried to the wooden door on the other side of the room and leaned against it to listen. Not for voices, but for lorcith. He heard nothing.
Rsiran pulled the broken knife back from the second guard. They needed to hold onto the few weapons they had.
He grabbed the thick iron handle on the door and pulled. It opened slowly and, thankfully, silently.
The hall on the other side of the door was nearly dark. A single lantern hung far down the hallway, spilling only a small circle of light around it. The air smelled different, like wood shavings and dirt.
Where were they?
“Can you see anything?”
Jessa leaned against him and peered down the hall. “Nothing. It turns at the end where that lantern is. Can’t see anything beyond there.”
Rsiran moved carefully as they started forward, but they needed to be quick as well. If the Slider reported they’d escaped, others would come. How many before Rsiran couldn’t handle them all?
As they reached the corner, he hesitated. Light came from around the corner. He listened.
“Rsiran!” Jessa hissed.
The Tower of Venass (The Dark Ability Book 3) Page 20