Deepstone (Secret Depths Book 2)

by Raymond Cain

  Twin blades hung from Gideon’s swordbelt, and a cage of darksteel bars surrounded the hilts to protect the wielder’s hand. The caged hilts were similar to the assembly of steel rings and plates surrounding the hilt of Flynn’s own sword. Gideon stood with his arms crossed over his chest, and crimsonite gems glowed as his fingertips hung lazily over his sword hilts.

  The azuran in black robes carried a bone staff with a skull on one end, and he aimed it at Gideon. “You’re not the one who asks questions, half-human, you’re the one who answers them. Now get on your knees and tell me where you came from. Don’t make me ask again.”

  “My name is not half-human,” Gideon said calmly, but Flynn sensed the calmness was forced. “It’s Gideon. And I’m the one who just helped your people reclaim Deepstone.”

  “Just helped us reclaim it? What are you talking about? We’ve lived here for centuries.”

  The briefest hint of surprise passed over Gideon’s face, but his purple eyes widened for only a moment. “I’m a friend to your people, not a threat. And I’ll prove it.”

  Gideon removed his swordbelt and tossed it behind him. The blades clattered as they struck the floor.

  Kylara joined Flynn and he whispered into her ear. “I can’t believe it. He’s surrendering to them.”

  Kylara shook her head. “No, he’s just getting them to lower their defenses. Those three azurans will be dead in moments, after Gideon learns what they know.”

  The idea of one unarmed man taking down three armed azurans sounded preposterous to Flynn, and yet Kylara appeared serious. Surely, Gideon could not be as good as she made him out to be. It seemed absurd that someone as skilled as Kylara was scared to face the man, even with Flynn’s help.

  “I agree to come peacefully,” Gideon continued, his hands held out before him in a gesture of surrender. “All I ask is that you answer one question. Where is the other person that was frozen like I was?”

  Kylara flinched, but didn’t say anything.

  The azurans looked at each other and Gideon examined each of their faces as though reading their thoughts. To Flynn’s horror, Gideon’s purple eyes locked on him. He briefly considered ducking his head back out of sight but it was too late. The white-haired warrior locked his gaze on Kylara next and his purple eyes widened with hate.

  The priest prodded Gideon with his skull-headed staff. “I told you to get on your knees, half-human.”

  Gideon stared at him coldly. “No,” he said in an emotionless tone, “you can get on yours.”

  Gideon grabbed the top of the staff with both hands and shoved the other end of it into the priest’s stomach. He yanked the staff away and spun it, striking the priest in the ankles and sending him to his knees. Gideon put the staff behind the man’s head and drove his knee into the priest’s face, breaking the staff in two. He spun a staff piece in each hand as the two azuran soldiers approached with longswords.

  Flynn gulped nervously and Kylara was visibly pale beside him. “If we’re going to attack him, now is the best time.”

  Kylara had a bewildered look on her face. She put her hand on his shoulder and nodded. “Okay,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  They ran toward Gideon as the azurans attacked him. The assassin swung his wooden staves, parrying the two attacks simultaneously. He used the skull-end of the staff to smash one of the attacker’s arms, knocking the sword free from the man’s grip. He drove the skull into the man’s face, flattening the man’s nose against his cheekbones and rendering the man unconscious or dead. The last azuran slashed at a downward angle toward Gideon’s collarbone but he deflected it wide and shoved the splintered end of one of the staves into the man’s throat. Blood sprayed as the soldier collapsed.

  Still running, Kylara hurled a dagger that flew unerringly toward Gideon’s chest. The man did a backflip, timing it perfectly so the dagger sailed over him, and landed next to his swordbelt. He looped a foot under the belt and kicked it up into the air. He grabbed the hilts of both swords in mid-air and as the belt fell, and the belt’s weight dragged the scabbards down with it, unsheathing the blades.

  Gideon’s darksteel swords were magnificent. They were shorter than a longsword but equally wide, and sharpened on both sides from hilt to tip. A finger-wide groove filled with crimsonite ran along the center of both blades, and the glow contrasted the jet-black steel surrounding it. A small red crystal dragon was emblazoned into the base of each blade, identical to the ones in Kylara’s staves, and each hilt sported a glowing red crystal.

  Flynn was in awe of Gideon’s weapons, and his skill. In the span of a few heartbeats, the half-azuran brought down all three azurans, dodged a perfectly-thrown dagger, and rearmed himself. Flynn held his sword out warily and he glanced sidelong at Kylara for guidance. She circled around in the opposite direction, moving into a flanking position.

  “I see you brought a friend,” Gideon said, smiling broadly.

  Gideon spun his darksteel blades and the red glow from their center lingered in Flynn’s vision. The man’s cold, purple eyes locked on him and Flynn felt as though his feet were frozen to the floor. There was a tinge of blue to the man’s eyes, testament to his human ancestry.

  “I hope he’s good,” Gideon continued, his gaze remaining on Flynn. “I don’t want this to be over too quickly.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Flynn and Kylara attacked simultaneously. Flynn slashed at Gideon’s shoulder and Kylara thrust her staff at his chest. Both attacks were knocked wide and Kylara used the parry’s momentum to spin her staff, bringing it within a hair’s breadth of Gideon’s face. Gideon moved back out of reach, blindly stepping over the azurans he had just killed without having to watch where he was going.

  Remembering Kylara’s warning, Flynn paced himself to conserve energy. Gideon was not the type of opponent who would get overwhelmed by a flurry of powerful blows. Flynn looked for openings in the man’s defenses and every time he thought he saw one, his rapier was intercepted by one of Gideon’s darksteel blades.

  Kylara, on the other hand, was spinning her staff so quickly that it was a blur. Her staff was blocked so many times by Gideon’s blades, the noise rang down the hall as one long sound instead of many individual ones.

  Kylara managed to strike Gideon in the ribs, knocking him backward half a step. The man appeared off-balance and Flynn saw an opening. He lunged, thrusting his sword toward Gideon’s ribs but the man ducked, and the increased strength and speed behind the failed attack threw Flynn off balance. Gideon thrust his blade toward Flynn’s exposed side but Kylara intercepted the attack, knocking it down with her staff.

  With horror, Flynn realized his foe accepted a minor blow from Kylara in order to trick Flynn into overcommitting himself. The feint would have killed him had it not been for Kylara’s quick reflexes. The man was by far the deadliest adversary he’d ever seen, even deadlier than Theoric.

  Gideon pressed forward with slashing attacks that put Flynn and Kylara on the defensive. Kylara managed to circle around Gideon to flank him but the man stepped toward Flynn, swept his rapier aside, and delivered a boot into his chest. The kick knocked Flynn into the wall but he shook off the blow and kept fighting.

  Kylara separated her staff into two and was on her heels, defending herself against Gideon’s onslaught. She was bleeding from cuts to her arms and legs but Gideon was relatively unharmed. Their four weapons locked together and Gideon smashed her in the face with a caged hilt. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she stumbled backward.

  Flynn charged, leaping in the air and putting all his strength into a downward stroke as he came down. Gideon blocked it with both blades and deflected the rapier aside. Anticipating the move, Flynn brought his own hilt forward, slamming it into Gideon’s face. The man was staggered and Flynn swung at Gideon’s neck. Predictably, the attack was blocked but it was just a feint to get Gideon’s arms out of the way so Flynn could kick him in the midsection. The air was knocked out of Gideon and he flew backward, lan
ding hard on his back.

  A patrol of four white-skinned warriors rushed in, led by the largest azuran Flynn had ever seen. He was a head taller than the soldiers next to him, and his white hair was cropped short. His face and arms were scarred from battle, and he carried a two-handed sword taller than Flynn was.

  The tall warrior sneered when he saw the three dead azurans on the floor. He looked first at Gideon, then at Flynn and Kylara, as though wondering which of them to kill first.

  “Where did you come from?” the massive azuran demanded.

  Gideon struggled back up to his feet. He cringed as he rose, and Flynn suspected that Kylara may have scored a few hits on him after all. “My name is Gideon, I’m half-azuran.”

  “And half-human,” Flynn added, helpfully.

  “I’m a hero to your people,” Gideon continued as though Flynn hadn’t interrupted. “The one who helped reclaim Deepstone from the evil humans.”

  “Really, now?” the huge warrior said in a skeptical tone. The other azurans snorted.

  Gideon nodded. “The humans used me. I was their greatest assassin for years but I grew to despise them. I served the azurans loyally by letting them into the city. I’m still alive today because I was caught in a trap, and frozen until these foolish humans released me.”

  Kylara was returning to her senses and Flynn pulled her up to her feet. She was blinking rapidly and shaking her head as though something was knocked loose in there. He glanced over at the group of azurans. Their leader was leaning against his massive sword, apparently considering Gideon’s story.

  “He’s right,” Flynn said, and Kylara’s eyes widened in shock. “This really is Gideon and he really was their greatest assassin. And do you remember who your king was at that time? King Mordakai, the greatest azuran ruler that ever lived. He was assassinated shortly before the assault on Deepstone, and who else would the humans send to kill him other than their greatest assassin?”

  The azuran group stared menacingly at Gideon, who was busily glaring at Flynn with blue-tinged, purple eyes.

  “And don’t forget to ask Gideon who killed your friends,” Flynn said, gesturing at the three dead azurans on the floor. “Their blood is all over his armor.”

  That last line of reasoning seemed to convince the azurans because they approached Gideon with swords drawn.

  “I wish your sword was as lethal as your tongue,” Kylara muttered. “We have to get out of here. I’m too dizzy to fight.”

  The clash of steel rang behind them as Flynn draped Kylara’s arm over his shoulder and the two of them staggered out of the room as fast as they could go. After a few moments, she recovered enough to run on her own. The sounds of battle faded behind them as the two sped down the hall toward the portal.

  They ran by the doors Kylara smashed earlier and Kylara stumbled. “I’m fine,” she said, pushing his hands away when he tried to help. “Keep running.”

  They ran down the corridor and breathed audible sighs of relief when the blue glow of the crystal-ringed barrier came into sight. The sound of approaching footsteps alerted Flynn that someone—Gideon, most likely—was coming for them. He looked over his shoulder and saw Gideon far behind them, half-running, half-walking with a noticeable limp.

  Kylara ran clumsily up the hall, occasionally stumbling or brushing against one of the walls.

  “He survived but he’s hurt,” Flynn said. “We’ll make it back to the ship with time to spare.”

  “Thank goodness,” Kylara replied between heavy breaths.

  When they reached the aquazite barrier, they paused to catch their breath. Kylara leaned heavily against a wall and Flynn leaned forward with his hands on his knees. His chest heaved like a bellows and he glanced back at Gideon, who was gaining on them.

  “How do you feel? Are you okay?”

  “Dizzy, but it’s passing,” Kylara replied. “All this running isn’t helping.”

  “Well don’t worry, you don’t have to do it anymore.”

  Flynn poked his face out the portal and, to his horror, their ship was gone. He pushed the rest of his head through the water-barrier and looked frantically in every direction. Blackness surrounded him and the Searunner was nowhere to be seen. He yelled in frustration, releasing a mouthful of bubbles, and pulled himself back into the three-way intersection.

  Flynn was about to tell Kylara the terrible news when a familiar voice sent chills down his spine.

  “Hello, Flynn.”

  Flynn turned and saw a stocky azuran man a stone’s throw away down one of the three hallways. The hilts of a pair of jeweled cutlasses hung at his waist and their scabbards were concealed beneath a thick leather surcoat. He wore a leather tricorn, its three sides pinned with silver skull-shaped pins, and long white hair trailed down his back.

  Flynn stood there, too dumbfounded to speak.

  Theoric smiled, evilly. “What’s the matter? Missing something?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Theoric was accompanied by a dozen of his crew and the group marched fast toward Flynn and Kylara. Gideon was still heading their way up a second hallway, leaving only one way to go in the three-way intersection.

  Flynn shook his head in disbelief. “It’s just our luck that Theoric happened to show up the same time we did. I can just imagine what he did to our Searunner.”

  “Let’s go,” Kylara said, tugging on his collar and pulling him along. “I know a place where we can buy ourselves some time.”

  “I’m sure Gideon does too,” Flynn said between breaths as they ran up the hallway.

  They passed by some old, wooden doors. Ice was visible in the gap below the first door and Flynn wondered if the room contained another person trapped in ice. There was no time to consider that though and they continued running up the hall.

  “Here,” Kylara said, pausing by a stone door fortified with rusty steel hinges.

  There were two fist-sized bulges in the doorjamb as though a pair of round objects were set into the stonework. The top one was an aquazite disc that appeared to have recently had the dust wiped from it. She smeared dust off the second rounded spot, uncovering a crimsonite disc. The red crystal flashed and the door scraped open. The rusty hinges groaned and the door was reluctant to open more than a few inches. Flynn shoved it open and they rushed inside.

  Kylara smashed the red orb, preventing anyone from using it to open the door, and Flynn scanned the hallway behind them. Gideon was walking alongside Theoric and the other azuran pirates. The group was marching determinedly toward them.

  “Great,” Flynn said, “Gideon and Theoric are allies now.”

  “Who’s Theoric?”

  “Let’s get this door closed and I’ll tell you.”

  The air was even more stale inside the room than it was in the tunnel. A glowdisc bathed the room in a pale light and a stone shelf as tall as the ceiling obstructed their view of most of the room. Flynn nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard someone call his name.

  “Flynn? Kylara?” spoke a familiar voice, and Tasker’s stubbled face appeared around the corner. As usual, his black hair was a tangled mess and he wore kelp work clothes covered in pockets. Lycia joined him an instant later. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a complex array of braids that trailed down the back of her dark leather armor. Her family emblem, a pair of crossed feathers, were branded into the leather.

  “Tasker? Lycia?” Flynn replied, incredulously.

  A whirlpool of questions swirled around in Flynn’s mind. What were Tasker and Lycia doing there? Did Theoric destroy both Searunners? How angry were they about he and Kylara sneaking away? His thoughts were distracted by the grunting sounds Kylara made as she tried to shove the door closed.

  “Help me,” Kylara said, ramming her shoulder against the door.

  The door scraped hard against the floor as the two of them pushed. There was no click to show that it locked and Flynn wedged pieces of rubble under the bottom of it to make it harder to open.

  “Flynn,” Task
er said, a rare look of enthusiasm adorning his face as he brushed his greasy black hair out of his eyes. “You won’t believe what’s in here!”

  “And you won’t believe who will be in here if you don’t help me find a way to block the door. Gideon and Theoric are out there, and they know we’re here.”

  Lycia’s mouth dropped open. “You brought them both here?”

  “And Theoric’s crew,” Flynn added. “And no, I didn’t bring them. They followed us.”

  Lycia turned to Tasker. “We must find a way to protect them.”

  Tasker nervously ran his fingers through his unruly black hair and nodded.

  “Protect who. Us?” Flynn asked, glancing Kylara’s way.

  Tasker scrunched up his face and waved his hand dismissively as though Flynn’s suggestion was preposterous. “No, Flynn. There’s something important in here.”

  “Oh. You definitely aren’t referring to us, then,” Flynn said, sarcastically, as the sound of approaching voices grew louder outside the door.

  Tasker turned back to Lycia. “Help me take some of them out of the ice and we’ll use it to bar the door closed.”

  “Good idea.”

  The door scraped open a few inches, and Theoric’s crewmen were grunting with effort on the other side.

  Flynn shoved a dagger under the door and wedged another dagger beneath the first, preventing it from opening further. Kylara did the same with two of her blades, and then again with two more. Remembering the daggers in his boots, he wedged those under the door as well. Even with all that, the door was slowly inching open. He and Kylara put their backs against the door.

  “Careful with them,” Lycia muttered, her voice carrying from the other side of the shelf. “They’re precious.”