Frostgrave_Second Chances

by Matthew Ward

  ‘Alone? That’s dangerous.’

  Kain snorted.

  ‘Not as dangerous as keeping her down here,’ said Yelen. ‘She thinks I seduced and murdered her lover.’

  Mirika tried to envision her little sister doing either, and quickly abandoned the attempt. ‘And did you?’

  ‘Not exactly.’ Yelen held up her wrist, showing a clock face that was all but black. ‘She comes out when I’m sleeping, wears me like a second skin.’ Her lips twisted into a rueful smile. ‘Told you I knew what I was talking about.’

  The implications crowded in. It was too easy to guess why the clock had wound on. ‘Yelen…’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. You’re back. That’s all that matters.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have come for me.’

  Yelen held out a steaming mug. ‘Would you have come for me?’

  Mirika frowned. ‘Of course. You’re my little sister.’

  ‘And that cuts both ways,’ Yelen replied, in a tone that brooked no argument. ‘Now stop being ungrateful, and drink your tea.’

  Mirika fell silent and cradled the cup in both hands, savouring the warmth as it seeped back into her bones. ‘You’re different.’

  ‘I told you, Azzanar’s closer to the surface. It’s bound to show.’

  ‘I don’t mean that. You’re calmer. More confident.’ She forced a smile. ‘You’re not arguing with me.’

  ‘Don’t be fooled. If I start screaming, I’m not sure I’ll stop.’ Yelen glanced in Kain’s direction. Then, apparently satisfied the other woman wasn’t listening, she leaned closer. ‘I told you once that I wasn’t sure who I was without you. I’ve a better idea now.’ A faraway look came into her eyes. ‘Shame it’s too late to be of use.’

  The warmth of the mug did nothing to dispel the chill provoked by those words. ‘What do you mean?’ Yelen looked away. ‘Yelen, tell me.’

  ‘Azzanar nearly killed us all in the Lower Reach, all to get me to give up the last of myself,’ she spoke quietly, her eyes downcast. ‘She’ll do it again, first chance she gets. I can’t stay awake forever.’ She took a deep breath and gazed defiantly into Mirika’s eyes. ‘As soon as we’re out of here, I’m going to go for a walk. Any direction, doesn’t matter, so long as it’s away from you. Serene will do the rest. Azzanar won’t win. I won’t let her.’

  Mirika gripped the mug until her knuckles whitened. ‘Yelen, no.’

  ‘There’s no other way. We’ve known for years it might come to this.’

  ‘You’re talking about killing yourself!’

  ‘If the alternative’s Azzanar killing anyone else, then I can live with that.’ She smiled a watery smile. ‘If you’ll pardon the expression.’

  Mirika bit down an angry response she knew would only make matters worse. In a way, it didn’t surprise her. Come what may, Yelen always seemed to have a plan – even if they were never so ghastly as this. ‘And what do your new friends think of that?’ she hissed.

  ‘We’ve discussed it. Why do you think Serene hasn’t slit my throat already?’

  Anger and despair crashed across Mirika, seething like the waters of a mill race. ‘No. I won’t let you.’

  ‘You can barely hold that mug. I see your hands shaking.’

  ‘You might be surprised.’ Mirika embraced her rising anger, let its warmth bring her new strength. ‘There’s another way. There’s always another way.’

  ‘Or maybe I made a terrible mistake, and it’s time to pay the price. Azzanar’s my fault. My burden. Too many have suffered already.’

  Mirika leaned forward and grabbed her sister’s hands. ‘No. We can still beat this. You can’t throw a rock in Rekamark without hitting a wizard, and we’ll go further afield if we have to.’

  ‘You’re not listening. I’ll not make it back to Rekamark. It’s my decision, and it’s made.’

  ‘What does Cavril think?’

  Yelen’s mouth parted, a peculiar look in her eye. ‘What did you say?’

  Mirika paused, the expression on her sister’s face scratching at a hazy memory. ‘Cavril. What does he think?’

  Yelen sprang to her feet and pointed away into the darkness. ‘Cavril’s back down there. He offered himself to Szarnos to set you free, and he was too bloody happy about it if you ask me!’

  ‘No. That’s not right. It can’t be.’

  ‘I thought you said you remembered everything?’

  ‘I do. I did.’ Mirika shook her head in a vain attempt to clear it. ‘No. Nothing after I brought down the vault. I thought you’d ripped the orb from me or destroyed it, or something. Not this. Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘I just did!’

  Kain, pretence at privacy abandoned, stalked around the fire. ‘What is it, girl? What do you know?’

  Mirika closed her eyes. ‘Szarnos isn’t the only one. There’s a dozen more just like him, and he wants to wake them up.’

  * * *

  ‘It would seem I’m no longer your most pressing issue, poppet. How sad.’

  Yelen stared at Mirika, thoughts skipping as she strove to grasp the enormity of what her sister had said. Szarnos was bad enough. A second? A third?

  ‘You’re sure?’ she asked.

  Mirika nodded, eyes scrunched closed. ‘It was the only thing he wanted. Over and over, the same black thoughts pressing down on me. I fought him, dipped in and out of the timeflow to render the incantations meaningless. But it came closer each time. Time doesn’t mean much to the undead. It was like trying to drown a river.’

  ‘Where are they?’ asked Kain. ‘The others?’

  ‘There’s a crypt beneath the altar. Twelve corpses. Twelve orbs. Szarnos was chosen to act as herald, to open the way for his brothers and sisters. His thoughts were thick with duty. They tasted like ash.’ Mirika grimaced and looked away.

  ‘The Hidden Court of Draconostra,’ muttered Yelen. ‘It’s real. Gods, but we’ve made a sow’s ear out of this, haven’t we?’

  ‘The Hidden Court?’ said Kain. ‘Magnis didn’t say anything about that.’

  ‘Maybe he didn’t know,’ said Yelen, casting her mind back. From the way his voice had changed, it had been starkly obvious Magnis’ dreams of controlling the long-dead tyrant had been precisely that – fantasies burnt away beneath the liche’s unyielding will. A willing host he’d offered, and such had he become. Not a partner, as he’d hoped, but a slave. His future was hers also. Unless there was another way.

  ‘We can’t let this happen. We have to go back.’

  Kain shook her head. ‘Not a chance. We’re well out of that.’ She spoke the words matter-of-factly, enunciating simple truth.

  Yelen stared at her, disbelieving. ‘You’re not serious.’

  She shrugged. ‘Job’s done. We get to leave with our lives, and we’re damn lucky to do that.’

  Mirika hauled herself upright, brushing a tangle of hair back from her face. ‘I thought the Gilded Rose was better than that.’

  ‘What Gilded Rose? Paymaster’s gone. Half of us are dead. We’re done.’

  ‘Who’s done?’ Serene flitted out of the darkness like a ghost. Yelen flinched as the baleful one-eyed stare fell across her. ‘I’ve got us a way out. It’s a steep climb, but manageable.’

  Kain nodded. ‘Good. Let’s get moving. The sooner we’re out of this place, the better.’

  She turned away. Yelen grabbed her arm.

  ‘Get your hand off me, girl.’

  Yelen had thought gazes didn’t come any more basilisk-like than Serene’s. Kain’s coal-eyed stare quickly proved her wrong. A week before, she’d have backed down. But a lot had happened since then.

  ‘Don’t you get it? This is our mess. Me and Mirika brought that orb out of the tomb, but you’d have done it if we hadn’t. What happens next is on us.’

  Kain’s glare didn’t waver, but help came from an unexpected quarter.

  ‘She’s got a point,’ said Serene. ‘I don’t like it, but she’s got a point.’ />
  ‘You don’t like it. I don’t fight for causes,’ said Kain flatly, addressing her words to Yelen. ‘Or have you forgotten that, girl?’

  Yelen met her stare head on. ‘I remember you saying you’d had enough of causes dressed up in fake righteousness. I’m not proposing we fight a crusade against Frostgrave’s buried hordes. Gods know we’d never manage it anyway. But look at the body count Szarnos has managed in a handful of days, without help. It’s going to get much worse, and we can prevent it.’

  Kain cast a hand back in the temple’s direction. ‘Did you see what I saw back there? We couldn’t stop Szarnos when he was alone and your sister had him in check. Now he’s raising an army, and Cavril is gone.’ She clenched and unclenched her fists, and took a deep breath. ‘Look, I’m not saying I don’t feel responsible for this. I told Cavril it was a bad idea, and it was. But adding our corpses to the pile isn’t going to change anything.’

  ‘I’m still going.’

  Kain sighed. ‘Listen, girl. Yelen. It’s easy to be an idealist when you’re young and think you’re invincible. Take it from someone who’s lost too many friends. Some battles you can’t win.’

  ‘I thought all battles could be won, so long as you’re prepared to sacrifice,’ snapped Yelen, throwing Kain’s own words back at her. ‘Well I’m prepared to do whatever I can.’

  And that was the key, wasn’t it? she realised. Sacrifice had marked out the road to this point, and offered the only hope that the journey would go on.

  Kain rounded on Mirika. ‘Help me out here? She’s your sister.’

  Mirika snorted. ‘You talk like I’ve ever won an argument with her. Besides, I happen to agree.’

  Kain gave an exasperated growl. ‘Don’t you understand? I’m trying to stop you throwing your lives away. You can’t beat Szarnos.’

  Yelen choked back a frustrated retort. She had to be careful what she said. Some words, you couldn’t take back, and some secrets were precious. ‘I can. I know a way.’

  Serene frowned. ‘She’s right.’

  ‘What was that?’ asked Kain.

  ‘I said she’s right.’ She stepped closer, an energy in her voice that Yelen hadn’t heard since Kas’ death. ‘Cavril tried to tell us, but we were so busy haranguing him that we didn’t listen.’

  ‘He told me he was dying,’ breathed Yelen. ‘That it would take time for Szarnos to heal his wounds, that afterwards he’d be untouchable. That means Szarnos is weak right now. He’s vulnerable. Maybe for the last time.’

  At last, Kain’s mask of certainty cracked. ‘The clever sod. That’d be just typical of him, wouldn’t it? Every conversation a spiral stair.’

  ‘I think he was trying to tell us without Szarnos knowing.’ Yelen tapped the side of her head. ‘Azzanar can’t hear my thoughts, only my words. Perhaps it was the same for Cavril.’

  Kain nodded heavily. ‘You win. I’ll come. But not for the cause, mark you. Because it’s a friend’s last duty.’

  Yelen nodded. ‘Understood. Serene?’

  For a long moment, Serene stared appraisingly at Yelen. ‘You promised me I’d have a chance to kill your demon. Can’t do that if Szarnos kills you, can I?’

  Yelen tried to ignore Mirika’s stricken glance. ‘Is that a yes?’

  ‘It’s a yes.’

  ‘Mirika?’

  ‘Do you even need to ask?’ Her gaze settled none too lightly on Serene. ‘I just hope you’re right about this.’

  ‘I am,’ said Yelen.

  And if Magnis’ sacrifice wasn’t enough, she resolved privately, another would serve every bit as well.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ‘You’re throwing your life away, poppet,’ hissed Azzanar.

  Much to Yelen’s relief, there was no sign of the demon – just her voice dripping across Yelen’s thoughts. So too were the hallucinations of the infernoscape in abeyance. They had been since they’d rescued Mirika, now Yelen came to think about it. Likely Azzanar was husbanding her strength for something impressive. Yelen tried not to worry about it. She couldn’t prevent the demon’s machinations. She could only remain alert for them.

  ‘You’re throwing our lives away.’

  Yelen pressed back against the wall at Kain’s insistent wave. The chill of the ice seeped through her coat, setting her nerves atremble. The squeak-crack of pressured ice was all too similar to the sounds of the temple’s thawing congregation.

  ‘Then perhaps you want to help,’ she muttered, too softly for the others to hear. ‘No strings attached?’

  ‘I’ll not be a party to this madness. You’ve lost your mind, poppet.’

  ‘Actually, I like to think of it as getting the most out of it before you steal it.’

  Mirika tucked in close at her side. ‘What is it?’

  Yelen shook her head, not wanting to discuss the matter. Fortunately, Kain mistakenly thought herself the target of the question.

  ‘Sentries on the bridge,’ she said. ‘Szarnos is stretching his muscles.’

  Szarnos, noted Yelen, not Magnis. Kain’s initial reluctance to believe had vanished. Or perhaps she found it easier to distance herself from her former paymaster. Much easier to think of their quarry as a monster to be destroyed, than a friend.

  Yelen eased her head around the archway. Two skeletons stood in the middle of the stone bridge, tattered robes twitching in the burial chamber’s strange convection currents. Pale lights burned in their eye sockets, and their hands clasped rusted blades. They swayed ever-so-slightly, each motion accompanied by a rattling creak.

  ‘Easy,’ murmured Kain. ‘This’ll be hard enough without them spotting you.’

  Serene pushed to the front. ‘Two? You’re worried about two?’

  ‘No,’ replied Kain. ‘I’m… Serene!’

  Serene brushed off the knight’s restraining hand and ran for the bridge.

  The nearer of the skeletons looked sharply up and stalked forward, sword swinging. Serene ducked the blade, swivelling on the balls of her feet as she did so. A heavy boot lashed out, cracking into the skeleton’s robed knee. The leg shattered, bones clattering away over the sides of the bridge. Overbalanced, the skeleton fell to its remaining knee. A second well-aimed kick sent its skull tumbling into the abyss, and then Serene had its rusty sword in her hands. She parried the surviving sentry’s thrust, stepped inside the weapon’s arc and rammed her shoulder into its chest. The skeleton vanished over the edge of the bridge, the green fire of its eyes plunging into darkness.

  Serene pirouetted to face the archway, setting the purloined sword jauntily over her shoulder as she did so. ‘And you were worried.’

  Kain strode onto the bridge, and Yelen and Mirika on her heels. ‘Not about them,’ she growled. ‘Szarnos’ magic raised them. They’re bound to him, and…’

  ‘And he to them,’ finished Mirika, a pinched expression on her face. ‘He knows we’re coming.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Serene. ‘He’ll be too busy digging out his brothers and sisters.’

  A crack echoed up and down the burial chamber. Ice spilled away from an alcoved tomb to Yelen’s right. A skeletal hand emerged, clawing at rock. A skull followed, eyes blazing beneath a rusted helm. More cracks sounded, followed by the scrabble of bone on icy rock. Green pinpricks burst into life all around the bridge.

  ‘Apparently not.’ Yelen shoved Mirika towards the far end of the bridge. ‘Go! Go!’

  A skeleton dropped onto the bridge ahead of Mirika, burial robes dancing.

  ‘Look out!’

  Even as Yelen shouted the warning, her sister blurred with accelerating tempo. The skeleton’s lunge speared clean past Mirika’s ribs. Serene’s borrowed sword blurred, shivering the skeleton’s spine. The creature dropped, no longer anything more than a bundle of ragged cloth and lifeless bone. Mirika dipped, fingers claiming the skeleton’s battered sword. Then she was through the distant arch and into the dubious safety of the tunnel beyond.

  Kain slid her sword free of its scabba
rd. ‘You should be running.’

  Yelen glanced upwards and immediately wished she hadn’t. Skeletons swarmed from their burial alcoves, clambering downwards over the icy stone like spiders on a web. The air filled with the scrape and creak of timeworn bone. ‘What about you?’ she asked, unable to keep a tremor from her voice.

  ‘I’ll be right behind you.’ Kain settled her sword into a two-handed grip and squared her shoulders. ‘I need room to work.’

  Yelen darted for the far end of the bridge. A bony hand snagged her ankle, sending her sprawling. Her knee jarred beneath her, but she clung to her sword for dear life.

  Rolling onto her back, Yelen kicked at the hand scrabbling at her ankle. Bones ripped apart, and then she was free. Scrambling to her feet, she found herself face to face with another skeleton. Steel flashed, her instinctive parry clumsy. The skeleton’s sword scraped along Yelen’s blade. Twisting aside, she lashed out. The strike was artless as her parry, but no less effective for all that. Steel bit deep, severing the skeleton’s arm a little above the wrist. Yelen’s backswing split the creature’s rusted chainmail, scattering the bones beneath. Then the way was clear, Serene and Mirika calling to her from beyond the archway.

  ‘Come on!’

  Yelen covered the remaining distance at a limping run, her knee burning with protest at every uneven step. Another hand clawed up at her from the flank of the bridge. She ground the fingers beneath her boot and pressed on. Only when she felt Mirika’s hand on hers, dragging her into the tunnel, did she glance back.

  And saw Kain, alone in the middle of the bridge, a half dozen undead crowding close about her, and more clambering to join them.

  ‘We can’t leave her!’ Yelen pulled free of Mirika. ‘We have to do something.’

  Kain edged along the bridge, sword in a high, two-handed stance.

  ‘And do what, exactly?’ Serene buried her borrowed sword into a skeleton’s skull, then kicked both sword and victim through the archway and into the abyss. A dagger glinted as she drew it from a sheath. ‘Get in her way?’

  The other woman’s feral grin struck Yelen as inappropriate, almost cruel. But then Kain’s sword flashed for the first time, and she understood.