In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1)

by Angelique Jones

  “They say you’re the reason that we won,” she said, finally breaking the silence.

  “They say that, do they? And how was I the reason your people won?” I asked, amused.

  “The troops said that you got the communications block jammed and freed the barracks troops to fight. It’s the reason we were able to hold Twin Rivers and warn the Stone City,” she babbled, stopping at the look I threw her.

  Stopping dead, I reached over, grabbing the girl’s arm and pulling her to me. Ignoring the troops who pulled their guns, I said, “Your people won the battle, Keely. When the lines fell, they left behind the safety of their shelters and fought with their bare hands. No one person did anything; when people think like that, they give a single person too much power and that is dangerous,” I spat, letting her go and continuing on. I would have to move quickly and get my answers or I wasn’t going to live long enough to have a chance.

  The rest of the walk was silent and I was surprised when I was brought to the original place that Tristian and I first stayed. Going in, I wasn’t followed. The door was closed behind me, but it wasn’t locked from the outside. I suppose they were trying to maintain an illusion that I wasn’t a prisoner. I guess that if these people thought of me as a hero they would have a hard time explaining why I was imprisoned. Going to the bathroom, I quickly showered, leaving my damp clothes on the ground, only stopping long enough to take my knife. Taking a flowing dress from the closet, I pulled it on, putting my knife in the deep pocket that was slit into it. I looked just as harmless as I had the first day I arrived here. Going to the bed, I crawled in. I don’t know how long it had been since I slept, but I felt the exhaustion and I fought it. I fought it because I knew that it would bring the dreams. Eventually it didn’t matter and it took me. It took me right back into the darkness that never left me. The darkness that always lived within and grew with each dark deed I was forced to commit to stay in the light.

  My thoughts were interrupted as one of my constant escorts stepped up into my path. “Council leader Victor wishes to see you now,” he said, before quickly stepping back. Not bothering to acknowledge his words, I turned and walked to the government’s center. The coward was finally going to see me. For two weeks every excuse had been sent as to why he was unavailable and I guess he had finally run out. Stepping up the steps, I ignored it as everyone turned to look and whisper. What they whispered could be anything––to some I was a hero and to others a danger that should be put down. More troops joined my escort as I was directed to a door down a long hall. The troops who guarded it waited until I was almost upon them before opening it.

  Walking into the large office, I went to the seat before the table that Victor and the council sat at, not acknowledging the others littered around it. I guess this was not to be a private meeting. Sitting down, I looked straight at Victor, careful to hold back my smile and keep my face blank when he couldn’t hold my eyes and waited. The seconds ticked by and the other occupants began it fidget, nervous at the battle of wills.

  Finally, unable to take it, Victor broke and spoke first. “Misty, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to see you before this, but with what’s been going on we’ve been trying to give our people some sense of stability in its government.”

  Tilting my head to the side, I kept my eyes glued to Victor’s and let a small smile grace my lips. “Yes, I’ve heard that you’ve been meeting with the Loyalist city’s representatives to discuss a peace treaty.” Everyone at the table suddenly found something more interesting than me to look at.

  Keeping his sympathetic grandfather look, Victor nodded his head. “Yes, we’ve been meeting with the city’s representatives. It would seem that a rogue fraction of their government was responsible for the attempted takeover and they were hoping to avoid any more bloodshed.”

  “And I’m sure now that your council has seized control of the government that you also wish to avoid any further bloodshed,” I said, instead of calling him the liar that he was.

  It was harder for him to hold the look this time. “We have taken heavy casualties…” he began.

  “They would have been much heavier if I hadn’t interceded,” I interrupted. “In fact, if it hadn’t been for Tristian and I, you would have had no clue that your whole government hadn’t already sold you to them and were just waiting for a chance to hand you over,” I told them pleasantly. If the bastards thought I was going to make it easy on them, they could think again.

  There it was, now the real Victor was going to come out and play. “While we are grateful to what you have done, Misty, and acknowledge the sacrifices that you have made, you can’t expect us in good conscience to risk our battle-weary people against a fortified city,” he responded, unable to keep the anger from his voice.

  “Expect a government to keep their word, Victor? Now why would I do that?” I taunted.

  “You little ingrate. We gave you protection when no one else would have. How many of my people died to make sure that you lived?” he hissed, spittle coming out from his lips.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Died for me, Victor, are you kidding? You know, I fell for it all, you were good.” Shaking my head, I wiped a tear from my eye. “It was the commander at the barracks that helped me put it all together. Tell me, Victor, how long were you playing both sides? I mean it must have been quite a surprise when they couldn’t find me and went on a killing spree to prove a point.” Looking at his daughter Karen, who was behind him, I said, “And you, dragging your dead daughter and using her as a prop. That speech, you knew exactly what your father was up to, so you made sure he wouldn’t be suspected of being the traitor,” I said, shaking my head at the fear my words brought to her eyes before she masked it with hate. Like a cornered rat, his eyes darted before he covered them with indignation ready to brazen his way out. Holding my hand to stop his words, I said, “Not that I’m not sure that the story you will tell these fools after I leave will not have them believing your every word, but I don’t want to hear it.” Standing up, I moved to the door, and stopping before reaching it, I turned and gazed around the whole room, nodding my head to Michael and Johnathon before turning back to the council. “I knew that you were not going to help my people, yet I still helped yours. I did it because it was the right thing to do. You all look at me like I’m going to attack you at any moment, like I’m a monster.” Allowing a grim smile to grace my lips, I said, “I’m a killer and I make no excuses nor apologies for it. The things that they whisper I’ve done––I don’t deny them. I’m a product of the world around me. The difference between me and every other person in this room is that I accept it. You stand here in judgement of me and yet I can honestly say I am better than each of you. I’ve kept my word while you have proved you are no different than those you fought to be free from.” Bowing my head, I opened the door, startling the guards on the other side and walked away without looking back.

  Chapter 25

  It’s time. Victor is not going to take what I’ve done lying down, but the funny thing is, it’s the daughter I’m more concerned about. I shouldn’t have done that, but I had to know the truth. Changing my clothing, my mind went to the journey I was about to make and I wondered again if it is not just a form of suicide. I had a way into the Loyalist city and the caverns that, if the commander who I tortured is correct, I will never be discovered, using and old system of drainage pipes. He had used them often, abducting women from the caverns, and to get out of the city so he could have privacy with them. Stepping over my unconscious guards, I grabbed my packs. Keely had been a great help gathering the things I needed. The girl had been my companion over the last two weeks and I hoped that she wouldn’t suffer from helping me.

  Closing the door behind me, I went to the stairs, using them to get to the ground floor. Waiting until it was clear, I used the same route Johnathon once took us on and went out through the back of the building. Keeping my hood up, I blended with the crowd, making my way through the streets and into the woods. My
guards wouldn’t be discovered for a few hours when their relief came. Victor would be too busy digging himself from the hole I just dug him to send an assassin for a while yet. Avoiding the scouts in the woods was rather easy. I already knew where they were. It was just the one at the bridge that would have to be dealt with. When I could see the bridge, I stopped. What stood in front of it I should have expected. Fingering my knife, I gazed at the two men blocking the bridge as my mind made a decision I hoped I didn’t regret. Leaving it sheathed, I approached them, going to the center of the path so they would see me.

  “Did you even go to look for me at my housing unit or did you come straight here?” I asked, as I approached them holding my hands from my body so they could see I was unarmed.

  “I wanted to go, but Michael said you wouldn’t be there and talked me into coming here,” Johnathon answered with a small smile.

  Stopping about twenty feet from them, I asked, “So why are you here blocking my path instead of at your council meeting?”

  “Beautiful day for a walk,” Michael replied, looking up at the sky before turning back to me. “Are your guards dead?”

  “No, they’re a little tied up and weren’t able to join me on my walk.” I sighed.

  “What you said about Victor––” he started.

  “Was all true,” I finished.

  Nodding his head, he said, “Victor quickly took control of the meeting after you left. Saying that the shocks that you’ve suffered in your life have caused you to unhinge. That you were lashing out because we were creating a treaty of peace between the Loyalist city and us. He stated that you just didn’t understand. That though we would eventually help those in the caverns, if they were even there and it wasn’t part of your delusion, it would be through a process of negotiation. Then he dismissed us all saying that he needed to rest.”

  Yeah, I bet he did.

  “So you decided to come see me and make sure that I wasn’t going on a murdering rampage in my unhinged state?” I smirked.

  Instead of smiling, he looked me dead in the eye. “No, we came to make sure you weren’t murdered to keep you quiet.”

  “Well that explains you two, but what about the rest of your people surrounding us? What are they here for?”

  Signaling with his hand, I watched as what was left of the unit that I served next to just weeks before came out of the woods. “They are here because they feel like going for a walk, too.”

  Looking at all of them, I said, “The safest walk for you to take is behind you, the way you came. I’m going to be hunted from both sides and anyone caught with me will not be treated kindly.” When they all just smiled at me, I couldn’t help the answering one that graced my lips as I tried again. “You’ll be deserters. Victor will have you branded as traitors.”

  “I think that is an understatement and I think we’re wasting time. Johnathon will be heading back to be our eyes inside, doing what he can to run interference when needed. The rest of us are with you,” Michael said, before pointing to another man who hadn’t joined us, but stayed in his post up in the tree. “That is Daryl, one of the troops that you released from the barracks, as far as he is concerned, no one came this way. So I think that covers everything except this”––he pulled out a folded-up paper from his jacket that he held out to me––“your map of the caverns, I picked it up when Victor wasn’t looking, figuring that we needed it a little more.” I had given it to Victor thinking that I was going to die in the attack.

  Stepping forward and closing the distance between us, I took the map from his hand. Looking down at it, I gave them one last chance to walk away. “Tristian is alive and being held in the city. They haven’t killed him yet, as far as I know, because he won’t give them the information on how we escaped. He still lives because they couldn’t catch me. The city commander that I questioned gave me information on how to enter the city and the caverns without being seen.” Looking up into Michael’s eyes, I said, “I’m going in to get him if he still lives. Than I’m going into the caverns.”

  “Well, I guess we had better get going,” he said, the look in his eyes unreadable, but firm.

  “Alright, than I guess we have our orders. Misty, darling, it’s been a pleasure,” Johnathon said, breaking the moment. Stepping up to me, he lifted me up in a hug and swung me around before sealing his lips to mine in a quick kiss. Stepping back, he slapped Michael’s back and headed down the path back to town.

  Bemused, I watched him go before turning back, rolling my eyes at the scowl on Michael’s face. I moved past him and headed across the bridge. If the sound of footsteps didn’t tell me they were there, Justin’s staged whisper comment would have. “I think I’m back to not liking her. Here we are, my first real vacation and where does she take me. Some place new? Oh, no not her. With her it’s the same old thing, running for our lives and getting shot at. Well, she better not be expecting me to go flying through the air again. I’m telling you all right now, I will not be jumping from any roofs…”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the good-natured ribbing going on between them. Here they were, going with me to an almost certain death and they were joking about it. As Michael moved next to me, I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I wasn’t alone. No matter what was to come, I wasn’t alone and I didn’t know why that brought me comfort when it should have filled me with dread. Like Tristian and my sisters, they were now my responsibility to care for and like Tristian and my sisters, I wouldn’t be able to protect them. But as we left the bridge and the forest began to surround us, the only thing I could think of was that in the darkness I wouldn’t be alone…