Bounty Of Ash (The Phoenix Series Book 2)

by Sarah Rockwood

  "You don't feel it?" His voice sounded far away, and his eyes were still black.

  "Feel what, babe?"

  "The evil."

  He closed his eyes and began taking deep slow breaths.

  Oh, this is going swimmingly, I thought to myself. I'm inside one of the worst places in the Void, and my boyfriend is having some sort of Vietnam flashback.

  Keeping my own breathing as even as possible, I looked up and down the passage. I could see nothing particularly evil about the space; there were no dark stains on the ground, or body parts stapled to the walls. It was just a rough stone passage.

  "Why can't I feel it?"

  "You have little knowledge of evil, bird girl,” Archer’s voice was like acid. "Your heart does not know violence like the rest of us. You are too shielded, too pure." He began to chuckle to himself. He was really going to lose it, like any second now.

  "Then I'll try, babe,” I said in my most soothing, non-confrontational voice. Yes, I have one of those. "I'll open my heart and try."

  Archer's response was to languidly draw a sword from the sheath at his spine and lay it on the ground next to him. Oh, shit.

  With fear now singing through my veins, I willed my heart to open. I closed my eyes and reached deep into myself and opened my heart to the world around me.

  The evil was waiting for me.

  It ripped through my soul like a scream. My body twisted where I sat as evil, pure unadulterated evil, coursed through me. I shoved a fist in my mouth to stifle my cries as centuries of pain and obscene acts flitted through my mind's eye. I could see the orgies of blood and flesh, the mingling of bodies and skin, the rage and the perversity that coated this place. The residue may not have been visible to my naked eyes, but my heart, any heart, unshielded could not ignore it.

  Panting, I turned my thoughts to myself; I drew my wings around me and rebuilt the shields around my heart, layering them with my power, a power pure and free of evil and of darkness. My power, the power from my wings, from my heart, a power that coursed through me undiluted.

  I was on my hands and knees when I came back to my senses. My wings hummed with energy, my limbs sang with power. I had wanted to destroy Ganaraj for my own needs, but now, now I knew he had to die. For the good of the Void, he had to die. This madness had to be stopped.

  "Now you see." Archer was kneeling beside me. I looked into his eyes, they were still black, and he was covered in a sheen of sweat, but he looked more in control.

  "He has to die," I said, my voice steady, but grim.

  "Yes."

  "Tonight."

  "Yes."

  We held each other's gaze, light and dark, each struggling to understand the other, each wanting the other free from pain. I went to him, and as our lips met, he wrapped his arms around me.

  "Now isn't this cosy!" A voice cackled.

  36

  Coming up the passage was a group of five minions, the one in front had a mace in its hand.

  "Our leader will be most pleased! Extra flesh for us tonight, I think!"

  All but one of the minions cheered as he looked over his shoulder at them. It's a bad idea to turn your back when dealing with the Archer and the Phoenix.

  Before he could complete the turn of his head, Archer had driven his sword through the creature's gut. The minion let out a little sigh and then shook as Archer dragged his blade up through its body, practically cutting it in half. Bright green blood sprayed the corridor. The others screamed, and Archer had two more cut down before they could move, purple and black fluids joined the mess.

  By this time I had recovered from the shock of seeing a minion hacked in half and could move again. With the help of my wings, I shot forward and grabbed one of the two remaining minions, the one that hadn't joined in cheering with the others. The second minion turned tail and ran down the passage at breakneck speed. Archer went after it. I cried out to him as he disappeared around a bend. I waited, my breath held, but he did not come back.

  I looked around me, multicoloured fluid and minion parts were everywhere. Archer had done all this in seconds. Crazy. I heard a soft moan and remembered I was holding on to a minion. It was smaller than the others and looked up at me with frightened watery eyes. Its face was covered in splatters of green, purple and black. It choked on phlegm as it tried to speak.

  "Please, don't kill me."

  I sighed heavily; I really didn't need a moral dilemma this early in the evening.

  "Then you're coming with me."

  I looked around me and pulled a blood soaked rag off of one of the bodies. I took the cloth and tied the minion's hands and moved it into a sitting position. The minion started to cry. I was losing time. Archer could be anywhere by now.

  "Please stop crying," I begged it. "I'm not going to hurt you."

  "They were my brothers."

  What could I say to that? We are all somebody's something, and here in the belly of the beast, there was no time to acknowledge such things.

  "I'm not going to hurt you,” I repeated, "As long as you help me."

  "Help you?" Tears moved silently down his face.

  "Yes, help me. I need to get to the throne room, and you are going to take me there."

  "Then kill me now, for they will destroy me when we get there."

  "Come on, man! I don't have time for this!" Power flared inside me. "I am here to destroy Ganaraj and put an end to this terrible place!"

  "You are? Truly?"

  "Truly." I placed a hand on the creature's shoulder, and as I let my power flow into him, formal words fell from my mouth. "Renounce this evil and help me to the throne room, and I will see that you live."

  "I renounced it some time ago, Lady," Sid called me lady. "I will do whatever I can to help you end this terrible place."

  I could taste the truth in his words. Even in the darkest corners of Time goodness can be found. I untied his hands, and as he rubbed at his wrists, I plucked a feather from my wing. The creature looked up at me, astonished. I placed my left hand under his chin and with my right used the feather to wipe his brothers' blood from his face.

  "What is your name?"

  "Spin, my lady. Spin."

  The magic within the feather made quick work of cleaning his blood smeared face. I shook the feather, and the blood flew from it. I handed the gleaming feather to Spin. He took it reverently and tucked it into the band of his loincloth.

  "Ok, Spin, show me to the throne room."

  He smiled and took my hand.

  37

  Walking hand in hand with a minion is not comfortable. The height difference, the scaly palms, the weird way they walk, the phlegm, the list goes on. I went with height difference when I told him it wasn't working and Spin accepted that happily. He was so trusting; he kept looking up at me with his big, round eyes and a huge smile. It would have been cute if I wasn't in the City of Caves with no idea where Archer was or what I was going to find around the next bend.

  "Okay, Spin, talk to me."

  "I am so glad you have come! For too long now we minions have been forced to do terrible things under the guidance of our leader."

  "Yes, Spin, we can talk about that stuff later. Now I need to know all about these caves. The layout, the dangers. We've been on the same path for a very long time, what gives?" I had decided not to try and find Archer. He had proven himself to be an accomplished killing machine and until Ganaraj was stopped this place would be very dangerous for both of us. I had to make finding, and, gulp, killing Ganaraj my priority.

  "Oh," Spin stopped walking. "You want to take a different path?" He looked confused.

  "I don't know, do I?"

  "You said to take you to the throne room; this is the fastest way to the throne room."

  "You mean this path just goes straight to the heart of the city?"

  "Yes." He said proudly.

  Oh double crap, did this mean Archer was up ahead running right into lion's den? I needed to get out of this passage, there had to be
another way through this place, but how? The walls were seamless stone as far as I could see.

  "Spin, I can't just walk straight in, I need to get there without being found." He looked confused, so I spelt it out for him. "We need to go a secret way."

  "Oooohhh, the Secret Way," he said with a knowing nod. "I see. Follow me."

  He continued down the passage, I was about to remind him that I needed to get off the main path and that it was a miracle we hadn't met any other minions when he put his hand on the wall and hummed a little tune. It was just three notes, do re mi or something like that, and a fissure appeared in the rock.

  “Follow me, my lady," he said with a smile and disappeared into the crack.

  It was a minion sized crack. I was pretty sure I could get through the hole itself, but if the passage remained that size, we had a problem. I put my head into the hole and called out to Spin.

  "Um, Spin."

  "Yes, my lady." His voice was slightly muffled by the rock.

  "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to fit in there. I think I can get through this crack, but..."

  "Do not worry, the path is quite large once you are through," he called cheerily from behind the rock.

  "Ok," I said under my breath.

  I backed up a bit and looked at the hole. I would need to get pretty low down to get my wings through unscathed. Basically, I would have to slither through on my belly. I sighed deeply; the minion blood that had soaked my pants hadn't yet dried and was going to absorb every molecule of crud I came in contact with as I snaked through this hole. I was going be so filthy when this was over. I was about to complain to Spin again when my wings tugged at my back reminding me why I was here. Get over yourself, Phoenix, I scolded silently and put my head into the hole.

  The passage on the other side was indeed large enough. It wasn't quite as full or well excavated as the main path and what little light there was came from randomly placed torches, but it would do. I stayed close to Spin as we moved along, which wasn't difficult, he seemed very reluctant to go forward. After the third time I'd walked into him, I stopped and crouched down to talk to him.

  "What's the problem?"

  "Problem? No, problem." He smiled, and even in the dim light, it looked tense and scared.

  "Really? You seem very frightened, Spin." I put a hand on his shoulder, a little dribble of power flared between us, and he shrugged off my hand.

  "Not here!" he whispered, looking frantically up and down the path. "This is a very dark path, very dark. We could meet bad creatures here, very bad indeed."

  "I thought you said this was the secret way?" I asked, my right hand casually resting on the blade Archer had strapped to my left forearm.

  "Secret to most, not all," Spin replied. "There are no true Secrets here, my lady." The word secret had a weight to it as it left his mouth.

  "I will protect us." I smiled at Spin, trying to reassure the little guy. "Lead the way."

  "You may have to fight," he said, a slight quiver in his voice.

  I straightened up and pulled out the short blade I had been caressing.

  "I figured."

  38

  We moved forward through the tunnel. I kept one hand lightly skimming the stone wall to my left, my right arm out before me, blade in hand. Spin was practically wrapped around my legs.

  "Spin?" My voice was barely a whisper, he was so close that hearing me was not an issue.

  "Yes, my lady?"

  "Is this another one of those secret door tunnels? Could someone come leaping out at us through the walls?"

  "Yes, my lady."

  "Oh, joy." The sarcasm was evident even in a whisper.

  "Yes, my lady."

  Man, he sounded so much like Sid it made my heart hurt. Except Sid would never have cowered at my feet. Sid would have been charging ahead, ready to strike down whoever crossed our paths. I really needed Sid now. A crazy thought popped into my head. Crazy indeed. And exciting, very exciting. I tried to keep myself in check as I asked Spin my crazy question.

  "Do you know all the minions here?"

  "No, my lady, there are too many of us."

  "That's comforting."

  "Sarcasm, my lady?"

  "Yep."

  "Did you learn that in your world, my lady?"

  "Yep."

  "I see," he replied, his little forehead creased with thought.

  "You may not know everyone here, but would you be able to find someone?" Spin looked puzzled. "If I told you their name, would you be able to find them? Is there like a main hive brain thing you could tap into?"

  "Hive brain?" The question was genuine, Spin was far too innocent to be condescending.

  "A place where information is stored about all of you minions. Where you live, where you could be in this massive place."

  "Who are you looking for?"

  His voice had turned dark. I stopped walking and discovered he was several paces behind me.

  "Who are you looking for, my lady?" He moved slowly towards me, apprehension on his face. "I am taking you to the heart of this evil place, to the very throne of our leader. Who else could you possibly be looking for here?"

  "Siddhartha." Unexpected tears welled up as my voice caught in my throat. "I'd like to see Siddhartha."

  Spin stood in that dark, cold, wet, scary, stone passageway and looked at me. I could see bad news coming my way from behind his eyes. I told my heart to be strong. I told myself that no matter what he said I was going to complete this mission, find Archer and then get us the hell out of here. Spin opened his mouth to speak, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

  "I know the minion named Siddhartha, and I know where he is." Spin stopped talking and looked at the floor.

  "Where is he, Spin? Tell me."

  "He is in the throne room, my lady." He looked me in the eyes. "He is strung up in the throne room."

  39

  My world swam red.

  "Asshole!" My wings unfurled, knocking a flaming torch from the wall. The flame guttered, plunging us into shadow. I continued ranting to the air. "If he thought I was going to kill him before, I am going to double kill that bastard now!" Yes, I become an incoherent eighties action star when I'm angry, glib catchphrases and all.

  "Lady, calm yourself, please!"

  Spin was hopping around at my feet as I strutted down the corridor. My wings were unfurled as much as the passage would allow and I was taking out every torch we passed. I didn't care. Their puny flames couldn't hurt me.

  "He's torturing him, isn't he?"

  "Yes." Spin was making every effort to speak as he coughed and sputtered beside me.

  "And everybody gets to watch, don't they?"

  "Yes."

  "How long?"

  "My lady?"

  I stopped abruptly and dropped to my knees, my angry faces inches from Spin's.

  "How long has this been going on?" I asked through gritted teeth.

  "We- we- we have no concept of time here, my lady," Spin stammered, "You ask how long and I cannot answer."

  "Damn it!" I was back on my feet.

  "But why, my lady,” Spin’s voice was stronger now, "Why care so much for this one? Why let only his pain matter? He is not the first!" I stopped walking but did not turn around. "How do you think the City of Caves got its reputation? How do you think these walls became so coated with evil and fear? Your friend Siddhartha is no greater than the multitudes that have hung from those walls. Be angry for all of them," He laid a gentle hand on my calf, "For all of us."

  As his tiny hand touched me a vision screamed through my body. I could see a room garishly lit by many, many torches. The air was thick with soot and heat from the flames. The smell of sweat and putrid things coated my tongue. Ganaraj sat on a pile of bones raised high above the room on a plinth of stone. Minions rolled on the filth covered floor at his feet, some laughed, drunk or high, others fought with fists and blades. I saw one minion grab another and roughly hack his ear from his head. The ear was toss
ed into the crowd; another minion grabbed it and proceeded to tear it apart with its teeth, gulping it down greedily. Minions hung from the walls, splayed out by chains that pulled at their wrists and ankles, their bodies stretched to impossible angles. The minion to my left was dead. Its belly was bloated, and its tongue hung grey and dry from its mouth. To my right, a minion screamed. His mind had gone, and although he screamed and screamed, it was barely audible above the din in the low-ceilinged room. I hung as quietly as I could. I was here for sport. Here because my brothers thought it would be funny to have the little one on the wall for a time. So far I had avoided more than a whipping, and I hoped that if I remained quiet, soon they would tire of me and let me down. It was then that Ganaraj spoke.

  "Silence!" The hall was immediately quiet. Even the screaming mess beside me had closed his mouth. "What have we here?" He was looking right at me. Evil dripped from his words. "Who tied this little present to the wall?"

  He stood and walked towards me. My bowels loosened.

  “No!" I cried.

  Power shot through my body breaking the vision. I found myself on my hands and knees, Spin a few feet away. When he had touched me, I had become him. I had travelled into his memory and experienced it all as he had done. My god, it was horrible. The fear. The violence. The cannibalism. I moved to the edge of the passage and vomited. Spin's voice was clear and cold as it filled the passage.

  "I am glad you stopped that when you did, my lady. I did not wish to see more."

  "I'm sorry." I wiped at my mouth as best I could with my shaky hands. "That's never happened before." I sat back against the wall, edging away from the small pool of vomit. "I'm sorry you had to relive that." I spat. "I'm sorry it happened to you in the first place."

  "Thank you, lady. It was quite some time ago." He smiled grimly. "Besides, you stopped the vision before the bad stuff started happening."

  "Holy crap, Spin. That wasn't the bad stuff?"