When we eventually stumbled upon a stone passage that I vaguely recognised, I stopped Colette. “I remember this; I think we’re close.”
She shot me another glower, “I know.”
I gave Adrian a look which he reciprocated; touchy. There were two guards by the door, who I quickly took control of. I asked if they were guarding the room or a person in the room, and they answered yes to the first. Giving Colette the all clear I watched as she slipped inside. Waiting outside awkwardly, concentrating on keeping the guards under influence, I heard Colette call me in. I looked over at Adrian. He shrugged.
Looking at the vacant faces of the guards I saw how big and strong they were. I could already feel their minds resisting me. They’d probably been trained to defend themselves against this kind of attack. I knew I wouldn’t be able to control them if I wasn’t looking directly at them; so I used my old trick. I whispered that ancient spell my mother had subliminally taught me, sending them into a deep sleep.
“Guard the door please Adrian,” I said. “Keep an eye out.”
He nodded, looking down at the sleeping guards half with curiosity and half with a disapproving frown. I opened the door and went inside Lynks office, a perfect square cut out of the rock. There wasn’t much inside. A desk, some books, a few drawers; nothing particularly interesting or bad-guy-ish.
Beside me Colette wondered, “Do you have any idea where Lynk would keep anything of value?”
“I don’t know.” I said, looking around the room. “I’ve never been in here.”
I rummaged around in the two drawers that were built into the desk, immediately seeing something that confused me. There was my name at the top of a piece of parchment and underneath was several different measurements; my measurements. There was the length of my back, across my shoulders, around my waist; all sorts of things. Why did Lynk have these? And when did he get them? I dug deeper into the drawer, pulling out a detailed map of the Fire Palace.
Not finding anything else significant in either drawers, I went over to the bookshelf. There were all sorts of books, ones of dark energy, of Phoenix gifts and lots on anatomy.
Suddenly I heard a scuffle and noise coming from the other side of the door, then heard Adrian yell my name. I glanced fearfully at Colette; then sprang into action. I swung open the door, immediately seeing a blade swinging towards my head. Instinctively flying back out of range it took half a second for my brain to register what was happening. Five guards were attacking Adrian. And now me and Colette were next.
Chapter Twenty Four
I leapt out into the passage, drawing a blade from my belt and swinging it high towards the guards who were attacking Adrian. However they were highly trained and really fast. I was struggling. Hell; even Adrian was struggling to keep up. Blades were flying at me from all directions. I needed to use my voice but for that I had to concentrate, and I couldn’t focus with knives stabbing inches away from my skin. One Firebird collapsed onto the floor, wounded by Adrian’s blade, and then another guard fell shortly after; but what I didn’t expect was to hear a pained moan coming from Adrian.
The guard I was fighting swiftly lunged forwards, perilously thrusting his knife towards my stomach. Automatically slapping it to the side with my free hand, carefully avoiding the sharpened edge, I turned sharply and drove my own blade into his side. Behind him was Colette, who, in seeing his weakness, finished him off. I looked over at Adrian and to my horror saw that he’d fallen. There was a massive gash through the top of his thigh that was bleeding heavily, and he was struggling to get up as a guard attacked him.
The guard wasn’t paying attention to me, so I threw my blade and to my amazement –or luck- it landed right on target. I am surprisingly good at that. The guard fell forwards, landing on Adrian, who instantly pushed his lifeless body aside. Another guard had fell but the last one was running away. I looked at Colette and she nodded, immediately chasing after his fleeing form.
“We need to hide,” I whispered urgently to Adrian. “Can you get up?”
I put my arm underneath Adrian, trying desperately to help him stand, but he was very heavy and too much for me to support alone.
“Adrian, you’re going to have to help me a little more than that.” I said, determinedly kicking the dead bodies to the side to make us a path. There was a little opening at the bottom of the passage. We headed down there but Adrian collapsed, staggering drunkenly against the stone wall. I tried to catch him as best I could, but I could now hear distant footsteps coming closer.
“Come on,” I practically dragged Adrian’s limping form the last little bit as we ducked behind a stone pillar. I soon realised that there was a trail of splattered blood leading right to where we were hiding, but I could hear voices now and it was too late to try and disguise or remove it.
“They found another entrance, Lord, around the north side of the mountain,” I remembered that voice instantly; it was the cruel Waterbird Zac.
There was an initial pause, and then I heard the eerily calm, influential voice of my Father. He said three terrifying words, “Wake the Daemons.”
“Yes my Lord,” agreed Zac. “Have they taken anything?”
“There’s nothing significant to take,” muttered Lynk. “I’ve already moved the Eternal Light and the Metovah key.”
Then I heard another voice that made me cringe; Briseis. “And I have the key to your office at the Palace.”
She was abruptly interrupted, “What’s that? It looks like someone’s been dragged down there.” It was Zac, “You.” He ordered someone, “Go look.”
I could feel my blood turn cold. I glanced over at Adrian in the darkness, panicking, and forced myself closer to the wall, shadowing myself as much as possible behind the stone pillar; but Adrian couldn’t move. His hand was clamped tightly against his leg. He was gasping shallowly; obviously trying to be quiet but the blood was still pouring rapidly.
I could hear footsteps getting closer. My body started to shake as I frantically tried to think of a way out of this. With a split second before the guard discovered us, it occurred to me. It was risky, but it was all I had. I had an instant to spare before he’d call Lynk; I’d have to catch him fast.
Slowly standing up as the warrior came searching around the corner, I waited until he was far enough into the opening before I silently sprung at him. Covering my hand over his mouth he made a quiet noise of shock but I was already whispering in his ear in that special way.
“You saw nothing.” I breathed urgently, feeling the desperate energy instantaneously taking control of my body, filling up my lungs and spilling out of my voice box. “You’ll go back to the others and forget we were here. You’ll tell them there’s nothing down here.”
I let him go and watched as his blank face turned away from me; I crouched down again; listening intently. When I heard the guard’s clear simple words my shoulders sagged in relief. Adrian nodded at me, looking extremely relieved also. There were a couple more things said at the other end of the stone passage but then footsteps sounded again; gradually quieting.
“They’ve gone to the entrance we came from. I suspect they’ve sent most of their warriors searching in that direction now,” Adrian uttered, I could see the pain in his eyes; “Your best shot is sneaking out the main entrance.”
“What do you mean ‘my best shot’?” I demanded. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Ruby, seriously, I can’t even walk, let alone fight, like this.” Adrian said honestly, “I’ll get us both killed. Go.”
I shook my head stubbornly. “No.”
Adrian glared at me more fiercely, “I mean it, go.”
I almost growled at him, “I mean it too. No. Give me a minute to think.”
I turned away from him. I couldn’t leave Adrian here. He’d rescued me from this horrible place once before; I would try to do the same for him. What could I do though? I can’t carry him; not in this body anyway. Could I Change and carry him? No, that wouldn’t work, the ceilings
were too low in most places to fly and on foot –or claw- I was too slow; we wouldn’t stand a chance. I could hear more footsteps rushing now; eventually we’d be found.
I pulled my hands through my hair tightly; I didn’t know what to do. If only Kieran was here. He’d know what to do. If only I could heal Adrian like Kieran could. I looked down at Adrian’s wound; it was at least two inches deep and eight across. I could feel myself panicking. I needed Kieran.
Then suddenly I felt very strange. I could feel a nervous energy in my spine. It wasn’t the usual kind of energy I felt when I was in a devastating situation; where I possibly might need my gift. What I felt, instead of a flow of burning sensations igniting their way down my back, was something cooler, calmer and slower. It was more like something was gradually growing underneath my skin; like tree roots. I wasn’t hot or cold, I felt neutral. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
The energy was creeping continuously down my arms to my hands. All I could think was that Adrian was in trouble. He needed my help. My surroundings vanished; I was lost in my own head, watching my own hands in a trance.
Before my eyes dark patterns spiralled over my palms; but they weren’t my marks. They were flecked with a deep emerald green; the colour of healing.
Somehow my body knew what to do. I sensed Adrian’s pain as if it were my own. I moved my hands to Adrian’s gory injury, pressing my fingers against it, the blood coating my skin. I could feel every one of Adrian’s cells underneath my flesh; they were alive and dividing with the energy that was pumping rhythmically from my very core. It was impossible to believe, yet my own eyes were witnessing it.
As Adrian’s cells contracted, knitting together, my own cells felt like they were tearing apart. Wanting to scream I glanced down at my leg, wide eyed; looking for an open wound. However my skin was untouched. One last punch of pain hit me and then the energy began to slowly ebb away. It was tracing up my spine again, like a worm digging back into the earth after surfacing. Exhaustion hit me like a tidal wave, washing over me. I gulped a breath sand shook myself into alertness.
Adrian was looking at me in horrified astonishment. “What the hell was that all about? You’re hands, they were… and you...” his black eyes, for the first time I’d ever seen, looked honestly petrified. “Kieran. The connection.” He realised, “It’s strengthened. I’ve read about this happening. Repeated healing can create a bond so strong that sometimes people can access each other’s gifts.”
My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t understand. What just happened was unbelievable. I was in shock. “But how…?”
“Both you and Kieran haven’t been honest have you?” demanded Adrian, “You knew this was getting worse didn’t you?”
I shook my head, “No, honestly! I’ve barely even seen Kieran. But…” I trailed off, realising. “I’ve been having dreams recently, but not normal dreams. Kieran’s in them, but I think he’s partly in control of them.”
“You’re wearing his chain.” Adrian noted sceptically. “If you’ve got something personal of his that could trigger it too.”
I shook my head, “I’ve only had it on since this morning.” I shook my head; we didn’t have time for this now. “We need to get out of here.”
The immediate future seemed to occur to him, and he jumped up and looked around the corner. As he was staring down the stone passageway I couldn’t help but gape at his healed leg; I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept that I’d healed him. Me. That wasn’t my gift. Was it really possible?
“I still say our best shot would be out the front way.” Adrian said quietly.
“Surely that’s the most guarded part?” I asked anxiously.
“Most will be moving to the other side of the mountain. There are lots of small passages where people can hide. We need to go,” he said.
I followed Adrian, moving swiftly through the shadowy passages. There were Phoenix everywhere, we had to duck into hiding constantly, but luckily because it was a cave there were plenty of hiding places. Eventually we discovered a large brighter part of the cave. I knew we were getting closer to the exit. We slipped past two guards busily rushing in the opposite direction, carefully weaving our way over and under the concealing rocky formations.
When I saw the cave exit the relief I felt was incredible. It was a massive opening that streamed in sunlight, so beautiful in comparison to the dark dreariness of the cave I wanted to run straight towards it, but there was a slight problem. Immediately I began counting the mix of Phoenix and half breeds marching around, hogging the sunshine.
“There are at least thirty,” I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for Adrian to hear as he crouched beside me, camouflaged by shadows.
He was calculating, I could see it in his expression. After a few heart-wrenching seconds he sighed, “There’s no way. We’ll have to wait for a distraction.”
It didn’t take long. Almost instantly I heard an almighty explosion. The ground underneath my toes shook violently and I nearly fell over. Glancing up at the ceiling in fright, I watched tensely as the stalactites trembled, bits of rock crumbling off in some places. Nervously wondering if I was going to be impaled by a falling lump of limestone, I started hearing the shrill penetrating screeches of thousands of Daemons. Covering my ears, I felt Adrian grab my shoulder and point me in a certain direction.
Following his arm I saw what he was showing me. It was his Father. He was covered in fine brown dust and had a cut across his cheek. His salt and pepper hair was a mess and he was screaming, “Evacuate! They’re blowing up the caves. You know where to meet.”
Bloody hell, they hadn’t told us that part of the plan.
Immediately there was a wave of bodies frantically stampeding towards the exit. I heard more explosions getting closer. Adrian snatched my arm, yanking me up and we raced towards the exit. Everyone was too busy trying to save their own skin to notice us. Adrian pulled me across the dramatically uneven surfaces, scuffling over slippery mounds of rock the size of hay bales.
Another explosion erupted and this time the shock wave sent me, Adrian and the rest of the fleeing creatures, catapulting to the dusty floor. Smashing my face painfully, I didn’t have time to cry out because I was already being pulled up again. We were so close to freedom now, just one last leap over a large crack in the ground. Then we were out in the open.
Still we ran, but apparently I was slowing Adrian down because he soon got irritated and pulled me up onto his back and continued on. Adrian ran relentlessly until we were miles away from the cave and were unmistakably alone. He dropped me -not chivalrously- onto the ground and I landed with a huff. I guess that’s where Kieran had learnt that from.
Awkwardly standing up, I glanced around. We were now in the forest that covered the foothills of the mountains. I turned to Adrian, “Now what?”
“I guess we need to find the cave where the cars are,” said Adrian.
“Do you remember where it is?” I asked.
“I paid attention on the way over here, I’m pretty sure I can find on foot. It’s mostly just heading east.” Adrian said confidently.
I could still hear explosions in the distance, but we were so far away now that it sounded more like gunshots. “Do you think Lynk survived?” I asked.
He nodded his head, “I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
“I bet something went wrong,” I guessed. “Otherwise they would have told us about the bombs.”
Adrian nodded sharply again, then said, “We better hurry up. I don’t fancy meeting anymore of Lynk’s alliances.”
As I followed Adrian through the dense, fragrant pine forest I wondered. “Do you think they caught the supplier?”
Adrian shook his head, “I doubt it. Maybe that’s what went wrong.”
I thought for a moment, wondering if the others made it out. Not that I was sincerely concerned in all honesty. It didn’t matter to me if Blaze lost his head to a stalactite. However he was my lift home; and I didn’t fancy w
alking.
I sighed, continuing through the forest and keeping sharp eye out for anyone approaching. Fortunately it appeared that most people were still occupied at the caves and I never heard anyone follow us. We walked at a very fast pace though, as neither of us wanted us to found. Eventually we discovered the right caves and I pulled a face when I saw who was in there.
Unfortunately Blaze was still alive.
He was surrounded by half a dozen others and as I stepped closer I realised there was someone tied up and struggling in the middle of them. His hands were trapped by shackles and his mouth was covered by a muting cloth. He must have been the supplier. Then, as I neared, I recognised the person they’d imprisoned. Despite the gear and the dark rings under his light eyes, I knew exactly who he was.
“Alex?” I gasped, my mouth dropping open in honest astonishment.
Alex, who had been one of my best friends since I could remember. Alex, who’d had a crush on me since the beginning of year twelve at Sixth Form. Alex, who’d had a bonfire party that had fundamentally changed the course my life. Alex, who I had left behind in England when I came to Kariak.
He was Lynk’s supplier.
I was absolutely speechless. Alex glanced at me and the dominating expression of guilt on his face confirmed it; he was one of them.
Why had I not seen it before? He had blonde hair and pale freckled skin; and his light eyes, characterised by their chips of topaz, had been permanently hidden under blue-tinted contact lenses. Despite his efforts, I’d always known he wore them; though I had presumed he just preferred the colour blue for his iris. It never occurred to me that he might be trying to disguise his true identity. How had I not realised that he was a Firebird?
Risen (The Firebird Trilogy Book 2) Page 29