Unbroken Chain (single books)

by Jaleigh Johnson

  The man’s flesh had been split from his navel to his breastbone. The shredded halves had been peeled back, exposing his insides to the air. Ashok did not spend time examining the crawling movement he could see from the open cavity.

  The captive’s face was shockingly peaceful, his head bent forward, his chin against his chest, his eyes closed. His shaved head bore several open wounds where it looked as if his captors had carved out the tattoos from his flesh. There was the rough imprint of a sword just above his left ear.

  “Tempus take your servant. Give him rest.” Ashok murmured the prayer without considering what he said. “He’s suffered enough.”

  He heard a sound then from one of the cages. Ashok spun, his dagger ready in his hand, but there was no movement and no other sound, only the animals watching him from behind the bars.

  He moved along the row of cages, releasing the catches to let the animals run free in the room. Ashok wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it-the sounds the animals made could alert someone outside the room. But something in their eyes compelled him, or maybe it was just the sight of the dead shadar-kai. There was a flurry of wings and clumsy shuffling as the beasts, too long confined, tried to learn to walk again.

  At the end of the row, in the largest cage, Ashok found the remaining Ikemmu captives.

  He released the latch-the cage wasn’t even locked-and stepped inside. The low top forced him to stoop, but he could still stand on his feet. Ashok clutched his dagger reflexively against his chest.

  There were five of them left, counting the man outside. The naked corpse of a woman near the cage door had been mutilated in much the same way as the man had been. Her fingernails were split and broken, or worn down to the bloody quick where she’d fought the straps.

  At the back of the cage, the bodies of a man and woman had been propped up in a half-sitting position, their arms and necks tied with chains looped around the cage bars. They sat with legs splayed and wore sweat-stained tunics but no breeches.

  Ashok crouched to examine them. There were no visible signs of mutilation, until he saw the dried bloodstains between their legs.

  Overcome at last, he staggered away on his knees until his back hit the cage wall. The force knocked the breath from his lungs. Ashok put his head between his knees and breathed through his mouth. The smell clung to his clothes, his hair. He would never be rid of this vileness.

  When he’d gotten his breathing under control, Ashok thought he heard another sound. He looked up and stifled a cry.

  The man had his eyes open and was looking at Ashok.

  Ashok couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He’d assumed they were all dead. How could any of them be alive in such a charnel house? They were so still that even the man, staring at him, looked like a corpse with a faint light in its eyes.

  Another woman lay a few feet away on her side, her back to Ashok. He couldn’t tell if she breathed. She’d wrapped her arms around the cage bars and pulled herself as close to the wall as possible.

  Swallowing, Ashok went over to the man and began working the chains at his neck. The man’s eyes tracked what Ashok was doing, but otherwise he remained completely motionless, with no expression on his face.

  Ashok got the chain loose enough to slip over the man’s head. Without the tension to support it, the man’s head lolled forward. Ashok caught it, and gently pushed the man back to rest against the bars. Then he went to work on his hands.

  When Ashok had finished, he went to free the woman. As he worked the chain at her neck, he listened for a heartbeat, for breath. He heard nothing. She was gone.

  Ashok laid his dagger aside and supported her weight as the chains fell free. He laid her body down on one side like the other woman. He wanted to give her some semblance of dignity. As he did that he spoke to the man.

  “Can you walk?” he asked. “We don’t have much time.”

  Ashok reached back for his dagger, but it wasn’t where he’d left it. He looked up and saw the man holding the weapon in both hands. He was so weak he could barely raise the blade above chest level to brandish it. His hands trembled, but his expression remained detached. He might as well have been holding an apple for all he knew what to do with the weapon.

  Ashok raised his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. “I’m from Ikemmu.”

  Nothing. Not a flicker of recognition.

  “We were sent by Uwan-by Tempus-to rescue you,” Ashok said. “Do you remember Uwan?”

  “U-wan.” The man’s lips came together clumsily to form the word. His voice was a shredded whisper. Ashok could see faint bruises on his throat where he’d been choked.

  “That’s right,” Ashok said. “Uwan wouldn’t stop until he found you. I’ve come to bring you home.”

  “Home,” said the man. He sighed and let the dagger rest in his lap, running his fingers over the hilt. “Tempus be praised.”

  “We don’t have much time,” Ashok said. “If you can walk, I need you to check your companion,” he pointed to the other woman, “to see if she lives. I’ll be right outside.”

  He was going to take the other body down and conceal it behind the trough so his companion wouldn’t have to see it. He headed for the door of the cage, but stopped when he heard a strangled gurgle.

  Ashok spun around. Horror washed through him.

  The man fell back against the cage bars, his body twitching. He’d stabbed himself in the chest with Ashok’s dagger. The hilt was held between his two hands, and an expression of utter peace suffused his features. His aim had been true. The life went out of the man’s eyes as the blade penetrated and stopped his heart.

  At that moment, the door at the top of the stairs opened, and Skagi entered the room. Ashok barely registered the warrior’s presence. He was trapped in the cage, unable to look away from the dead man’s peaceful countenance.

  “Tempus be merciful!” Skagi said. He saw Ashok in the cage and ran over to him. “What happened here?” he demanded in a raw voice.

  Ashok couldn’t find the words. He just shook his head. He was looking to the other woman, but all the strength had gone out of his body. He didn’t want to look, was terrified to see any more of the brutal work of his enclave.

  “Ashok? Ashok!” Skagi said, shaking his arm.

  Ashok slowly came back to himself. “Where are the others?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Skagi said. “I killed the guard and came straight back. She had time to yell up and down the caves before I took her, so we can expect company soon.”

  “Go find the others,” Ashok said. “Tell them … what you saw.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Ashok said. “We’ll have to clear a path out of here.”

  Skagi nodded and backed out of the cage. Ashok could see the relief on his face when he left the torture chamber.

  Steeling himself, Ashok went to the other woman. He reached out to touch her shoulder, and several things happened at once.

  The crows flying around the room cawed loudly, and the woman rolled onto her back in one violent motion. Her hands clawed at Ashok’s face. She caught his cheek and raked with her blunt, ruined nails. Ashok felt the fire lines across his face and wet blood drip down his neck.

  He hurled himself back, his hands up in defense, but the woman did not pursue him. Ashok retreated against the opposite wall of the cage and stayed there.

  Facing him on her side, the woman brought her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. The bones of her skeleton shone clearly through her taut flesh. Ashok couldn’t imagine when she’d last been fed. Blood-matted hair fell in uneven chunks across her face. She put her head down, as if trying to make her body as small as possible.

  Ashok tried to get a look at her eyes, but he couldn’t see through the curtain of her hair. Staying crouched he came toward her a step and stopped to gauge her reaction. She didn’t move, only curled tighter into her protective ball.

  “
Ilvani?” Ashok said, with a knowledge he didn’t at first comprehend. Then he saw it, in the shape of her face, an echo of Natan’s countenance. Ilvani had survived, despite all the horrors she’d experienced.

  She had survived. And if it killed him, Ashok would see her returned to Ikemmu.

  Ashok pulled the mask down so Ilvani could see his face. He reached up and fumbled with the catch of his cloak. He pulled the garment off and took another crouching step forward. He spread the cloak out on the ground between them like a buffer, then he backed away until he was against the opposite bars again.

  He waited, his hands between his knees, to see what she would do.

  He could feel time slipping away, precious breaths they needed to get out of the caves before the enclave realized what was happening and sealed off all the escape routes, before they ran them all down and hung them from the straps over the slaughter trough.

  His breath tight in his chest, Ashok forced himself to wait, patiently, to make no reaction when she stretched out one hand, scraping it across the floor until she could grasp a corner of the cloak with her fingers.

  She pulled the garment toward herself, threading it through her hands as if through the eye of a needle. She covered her body and curled into herself, pulling the cloak over her head. Ashok’s heart wrenched in his chest.

  “Ilvani,” he said brokenly, “can you hear me?”

  He waited, not really expecting an answer. More breaths ticked by, and finally, no more than a whisper among the bird cries and animal stirrings, she answered.

  “I hear.”

  “My name is-”

  “Ashok,” Ilvani said, cutting him off. Her voice was quiet, but strong. “I hear your name on the wind.”

  “You knew I was coming?” Ashok said.

  Beneath his cloak, Ilvani moved, but she did not uncover herself. “The wind whispered your name,” she said. “I tried to keep it, but they took all my boxes away.” She sounded sad, her voice growing fainter as she spoke.

  “That’s all right,” Ashok said. “I’m here now. I’ve come to take you out of here. Back to Ikemmu. Back to Natan.”

  Ilvani sighed. Ashok could see the cloak moving with her breath. “I remember him,” she said. “I walked with him in dreams. So many beautiful, twisted faces. I told him not to be unhappy.”

  “You’ll see him again,” Ashok said. “But first, will you look at my face?”

  Silence, and a tremor through the cloak. But a breath later, her hand emerged, long, delicate fingers curled into claws still stained with his blood. She pulled the cloak down so he could see her face.

  “Who are you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.

  “I am Ashok,” he said patiently. “I’ve come to take you back to Ikemmu, but we have to move quickly or we’ll be trapped here. I know you don’t want to be touched, but I need to know if you can walk. Will you try?”

  She considered him in wary silence, but then she put her hand against the ground and pushed herself to a sitting position. With her other hand she held the cloak around her like a shield.

  The crows cawed again in warning, and the other door to the chamber opened.

  With his heart in his throat, Ashok looked up to see a single guard enter the room. He shut the door behind him and didn’t immediately appear to notice Ashok. He was too busy watching the animals running free in the room.

  “What’s this?” he shouted. “Godsdamnit, Fridl, I told you to check the cages!”

  He came into the room, swatting aside the crows and ravens circling the air. Ashok moved to the cage door so he wouldn’t get himself trapped, and the guard noticed him at last. His eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  Ashok’s eyes took in the guard’s clothes, stained with blood that was obviously not his own, and the locks of red hair tied with leather cord hanging from his belt. He looked at Ilvani, at her uneven, blood-stained hair, and a snarl ripped from his throat.

  Ilvani shrank back against the bars of the cage. A wail rose in her throat, like an animal trying to claw free. She raised her hands in front of her face and began beating her head against the cage bars. The blunt sounds shivered through Ashok’s body.

  “Ilvani, stop!” he cried, but she kept on, until she slid down the bars, unconscious. A trickle of fresh blood filled her hairline and ran down her forehead.

  The guard saw it all, but his gaze stayed riveted to Ashok’s face. Unmasked, Ashok saw the recognition in his eyes. The guard knew him, and Ashok recognized the man in turn.

  Reltnar was his name. He had close-cropped black hair and a fresh scar across the bridge of his nose. Ashok remembered he and Reltnar had prowled the Shadowfell together in their youth, when both were still learning how to fight for their place in the enclave. Not brothers, not blood, but companions at least.

  “Ashok,” Reltnar said. His voice gushed out in a relieved sigh. “I thought I’d seen a ghost, but … I thought you were dead. We all thought-”

  “What’s going on here?” Ashok said, cutting Reltnar off. His gaze lingered on the blood and scraps of hair Reltnar wore. “Explain this.”

  “That’s right, you weren’t here,” Reltnar said. “We took these after you left to hunt the hounds. They put up a fight, and we had to kill half their group outright. We brought the rest back here to question them, but they wouldn’t say where they were from or what they wanted.”

  “Ikemmu,” Ashok said quietly.

  “What?”

  “They’re from the city of Ikemmu,” Ashok said. “It lies to the south. Did my father order this?” he asked.

  Reltnar pursed his lips. “Your father was killed in the battle,” he said. “One of your brothers too, but the rest are still here.”

  Ashok braced himself for the shock, but it didn’t come. He felt nothing at the revelations. “Who ordered this?” he said.

  Reltnar looked confused. “No one ordered it,” he said. “After they wouldn’t talk, we were just going to kill them, then a few of us”-his forehead scrunched up as if he were trying to remember-“we decided … we were getting restless, and the fighting, it wasn’t helping anymore, so we came down here to fight the prisoners, only they were too weak. That’s how it started.”

  Of a sudden, Ashok found himself remembering the wine he’d tasted that night in the Hevalor tavern.

  It’s not like wielding a blade or taking pain from a dagger cut, but it’s similar enough …

  “Listen, Ashok,” Reltnar said, sounding anxious. “I came down here because …” He nodded at Ilvani’s unconscious form.

  Ashok’s brought his chain up diagonally across his chest. “No,” he said. “That’s all over now.”

  “W-What?” Reltnar said, as if Ashok were jesting. “If you want a bit for yourself, I don’t mind sharing.”

  He took a step forward, and Ashok sent one end of the chain flying. It clipped Reltnar on the ear and took off a chunk of flesh.

  “Godsdamn you!” Reltnar said as he stumbled back and touched his bleeding ear. “What are you doing?”

  “You want pleasure?” Ashok said. “Is that what this is to you? Did it make you feel alive, climbing into that cell with them weak and chained to the walls? You’re a coward, Reltnar. You didn’t stand on the edge between life and death, risking your own destruction at your enemy’s hands. Look at them, Reltnar. You took their souls, and now you’re feasting on the bones.”

  Reltnar’s gaze hardened. “I don’t care,” he said, slapping his chest. “All the battles in the world won’t do any good! You see this?”-he flicked his maimed ear, spraying blood.-“I feel nothing.” He came forward again.

  “By the gods, Reltnar, I swear I won’t give you another warning,” Ashok said. “You may not feel the pain, but you can bleed, and you can die.”

  Reltnar’s face crumpled. He held up his hands in supplication. “Why are you doing this? I told you I’d share, but don’t take her away. I need this, Ashok. You don’t know what it’s been like. I stand gu
ard in the caves and stare at dark walls. There’s no sound but the godsdamn wind, and I can feel everything seeping out of me, a little every day. The only time it doesn’t is when I’m with her.”

  “Not anymore,” Ashok said. “We’re leaving, Reltnar. The enclave is finished.”

  “Says you?” Reltnar said, barking an ugly laugh. “Did you think I was the only one using them? You already killed the other one. You’re a walking corpse if you try to take her out of here by yourself.”

  “I didn’t come alone,” Ashok said.

  The others were waiting for him. It was time to finish things.

  No more hesitation. Not here.

  “Stand aside!” Reltnar cried.

  “No,” Ashok said.

  He watched the rage take over Reltnar’s face. Ashok’s former companion came at him stumbling in his fury and desperate need. Ashok dodged to one side, leaving the shadar-kai a path to the cage door. Reltnar went for it as soon as he saw the opening, like an animal chasing a piece of meat into a trap.

  As he passed by, Ashok calmly pivoted and slipped his chain over Reltnar’s head. The metal noose stopped Reltnar’s forward movement, and his momentum drove the spikes into his neck.

  Warm lifeblood spilled down Reltnar’s chest, but he barely reacted, except to stiffen and raise his hands to grip the chain. A reflex, nothing more. Reltnar’s fading attention was fixed upon Ilvani’s unconscious form.

  Ashok let Reltnar’s body slide to the floor and wiped the blood off his chain with the shadar-kai’s cloak. Listening, he heard faint shouts coming from the tunnels.

  They’d discovered the dead guard, Ashok thought. Or worse, they’d found the others and were already cutting off their escape.

  Ashok put his chain on his belt. He paused before the dead man at the back of the cage, but in the end he left his dagger protruding from the man’s chest. He’d chosen his death, and Ashok would not violate his flesh any further.

  Wrapping his cloak tightly around Ilvani’s shoulders, Ashok picked up her unconscious body and made for the stairs.