by Cindy Dees
Will turned back to Eben to ask him what else he knew of this place, but the jann’s eyes had lost focus and were glazed over with pain once more. Will noted that the jann’s normally colorful skin was going grayer by the minute. They had to find healing for him, and soon.
“What is this?” Sha’Li asked. She’d moved far away enough from where the troll had fallen that she was starting to be swallowed by the mist. From what Will could make out of her, she appeared to be staring hard at something.
Cicero moved toward her and Will joined him. He stopped short, though, when he spied the wall before them. It was solid but violently uneven. It looked made of crystals colored yellow and white and orange and red and even shot through with a translucent hint of blue in a few places. All the colors of fire. As soon as he thought of that it dawned on him that the crystals looked exactly like flames, made substantial and frozen forever in a dancing pose.
“It looks like crystallized fire,” he murmured.
“And forms an arc around us,” Raina announced.
Sha’Li commented, “I’ll bet there is no opening in it and we are trapped.” She took off to the right, following the wall into the mist.
“Feel like going the other way with me?” Cicero muttered to him.
“Why not?”
They followed the curving wall of crystallized fire back to the stone and dirt wall containing the circular door. They followed it to where the girls crouched beside Eben, checking his bandages.
“How is he?” Will asked.
Raina answered grimly, “He worsens rapidly.”
“We have to get out of here and find him help soon,” Rosana added in dismay.
Will squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, and Rosana rose to her feet and turned in to his touch for a quick hug as Sha’Li materialized out of the mist.
“No opening,” the lizardman girl announced in disgust. “Too slippery and tall it is to climb. Smash through it we must.”
Rosana frowned. “It’s not a good idea to destroy a magic thing. Bad things happen when magic gets set free.”
“A better idea you have?” Sha’Li snapped.
Rosana huffed in frustration. “No.”
Will shared her sentiment. He didn’t like the idea any better than the gypsy, but what choice did they have? They couldn’t just sit here and wait for Eben to die. Time was of the essence and they needed to press forward.
“We cannot leave him here, alone,” Raina announced, gesturing down at Eben, who appeared to be barely conscious. “I will take him back to the surface.”
Once she’d put on the White Heart tabard she’d seemed to embrace its tenets with gusto. Still, he hated to split the party.
Rosana piped up, “You go forward, Raina. I will take Eben back. I have a little healing for him.”
“I have no healing at all!” Raina protested.
“You have knowledge. You go on.”
Raina’s spine stiffened stubbornly, and Will sensed an argument forthcoming. They had no time for this!
Thankfully, Cicero laid a hand on Raina’s arm, which seemed to shock her into silence. “Rosana is right,” the elf murmured soberly. “Let her go. She, too, is bound to heal the injured and cure the sick. And she can defend herself … after a fashion.”
The fight went out of Raina’s spine and Will sighed in relief. He nodded his gratitude at Cicero, but the elf merely gave Will a worried look back. They were sending the last of their healing out of the cave. It was a desperate measure. But they had no choice. The clock was ticking.
Rosana declared firmly to Raina, “This is your quest. Not mine. I’ll go back with him.”
“What of the wolf?” Will demanded. No way was he letting her go back into that chamber of the dead if the wolf was still loose.
“Haven’t you noticed that it is no longer attacking the door?” Raina asked.
“Mayhap it’s lying in wait for someone to come out. All the more reason for Rosana and Eben not to go out there!” he retorted.
“Let us take a peek and see if we can ascertain where it is and what it’s up to,” Raina suggested.
Will sighed and gave in for lack of any better idea. “Fine. Sha’Li, if you could unlock the door, I’ll have a look.”
Cicero, Sha’Li, and Raina put their shoulders to the door in preparation to shove it shut if the beast should attack. Will pulled on the heavy portal and it slid open a few inches. No attack. He opened it a bit more. Still nothing. Finally, he opened the door far enough to peer very cautiously around the panel.
He straightened in surprise and pushed the door open a little farther to look again. “The circle is back up and the wolf is within it.” He moved out of the doorway far enough to hock a clod of dirt at the beast’s nearer head. The dire wolf lunged at the circle, snapping and snarling, but did not pass through it. “It’s caged once more,” Will announced.
“There you have it,” Rosana replied in relief. “Eben and I will make our way back to the Boki and Balthazar. They will heal Eben.”
Will doubted the White Heart man would have any mana left by now, either, but kept that pessimistic prediction to himself. Eben needed the hope. “All right,” Will conceded reluctantly. “Be careful. Do not disturb the roots nor touch the mushrooms—”
“I came in the same way you did,” Rosana chided gently. She laid her palm briefly on his cheek and whispered, “Come out of this cave alive, Will Cobb. I would take it much amiss if you did not return.”
He smiled quickly and nodded his promise to do so; then she was spinning away and thrusting her shoulder beneath Eben’s armpit. “Let us go, Rainbow Boy,” she said jauntily.
So brave she was. Plucky. His heart swelled with affection for her. She was the kind of girl his mother would approve of. His mother, who’d sacrificed her life that he might complete this quest. The great, circular door closed behind Eben and Rosana. And now they were four.
Will said heavily, “If we are going to do this, we might as well do it quickly. Any ideas for passing over, under, or through yon wall?”
“Use your staff,” Raina suggested. “If you can channel some magic down it, breaking the magic of the wall may not destroy you.”
He grimaced and gripped the weapon hard. His strength was waning and with it his ability to call magic. A thin stream of gold wandered down the staff. He took a deep breath and thrust it at the wall.
The crystals reverberated from his blow, but did not shatter or even appear scratched. Oddly, though, the vibration continued on for longer than it should have, chiming loudly, almost like it summoned something.
“Not good,” Sha’Li said under her breath, taking a step backward.
“Not good at all,” Cicero echoed, backing away from the wall.
Will looked up, and out of the mist above the wall a creature was materializing. It looked like a drawing Will had seen once of a great sea monster, except atop this one’s massive body were multiple massively long necks, each capped with a vicious reptilian-looking head and rows of glittering, deadly teeth. It was huge.
“What. On. Urth. Is. That?” Raina asked in awe.
Sha’Li answered shortly, “Hydra.”
Will added, “And this one is not wearing clothes and items that might weaken it to remove.”
Just then one of the four waving heads opened its mouth and blasted a gout of fire over their heads.
“A fire hydra make that,” Sha’Li corrected herself.
“As if that makes it any better?” Will exclaimed.
“No choice we have, Will Cobb,” Sha’Li declared. “Proceed we must until succeeding or dying, yes?”
Without bothering to wait for an answer the lizardman girl charged forward bravely, claws before her, for the belly of the beast. It wasn’t a bad idea in theory. The hydra’s underside appeared to be the only part of the creature not covered in red shiny scales the size of a soldier’s shield. And perhaps Sha’Li thought her own scaled hide would protect her from the monster’s fiery breath. Will
had to admire her directness and complete disregard for personal safety.
But as she neared the hydra one of the heads swooped down and exhaled a gout of flame that completely engulfed the lizardman girl, blocking her from view. Only the roar of the fire, ten times as loud as any smith’s furnace, filled the air. It went on for many long seconds, freezing Will’s feet to the ground in horror.
When the creature lifted its head, its fiery attack finished, Sha’Li was no more. Where she had stood there was only a small pile of gray ash flecked with black. The casual thoroughness with which the beast had eradicated her stunned Will speechless. They would never be able to defeat this beast. They were finished.
CHAPTER
30
Raina slapped a hand over her mouth and didn’t quite succeed at containing her sob of grief and horror.
Will looked shaken to his core, and even stoic Cicero looked dismayed. What on Urth were they to do next? Her selfish quest to break the curse upon the women of her family was not worth all of this death, even were she not wearing the White Heart colors.
“Obviously, we cannot fight it,” Will declared with patently false confidence. “We have nothing left to fight it with. We must think of a way to pass by it.”
But how? She was completely out of ideas. Out of courage, out of belief in the rightness of what they did. The cost was too high. It was time to end this madness. She opened her mouth to say so but was forestalled by the hydra making a strange, rusty sound. One of the heads had opened its mouth, but instead of fire, oddly formed syllables of … speech?… emerged.
She strained to understand the beast, making out something along the lines of, “It is in the air we breathe, the earth we stand on, the water we drink, and the fire that warms us. It is always and forever, never waning, never fading. It is what you feel in your heart, what you know in the deepest part of our spirit, and what you believe in your wildest dreams. Only its purest form can tame me.”
Will breathed, “Have I lost my mind, or is that thing trying to talk?”
“You have not lost your mind,” she muttered. “I think it’s a verse of some kind.”
The head repeated the taunt, “Only its purest form can tame me.”
“Or a riddle?” she added doubtfully.
There was something familiar about the words. Their rhythm. The singsong flow … She could not place it.
Will lurched beside her all of a sudden, as if a blast of memory had just slammed into him. He said in wonder, “My mother said something like that to me just before—” He broke off, then continued painfully, “Just before she and my father died protecting me.”
“What else did she say?” Raina asked urgently. “Think, Will. It is important.”
The hydra head repeated the cryptic description and Will blurted, “Magic. It’s as pure as lady’s breath. Legend says the Green Lady’s final breath upon the land became a flower.”
Raina didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about. She looked around frantically for flowers, however. Within view, a few small, nondescript flowered weeds grew.
Beside her, Will muttered to himself, “Lady’s breath. Lady’s breath…” He cast his gaze around the scattered weeds. He dashed over to a small, unassuming clump of plants bearing simple white flowers and pulled off a handful of stems.
“You’re going to fight that monster with flowers?” Cicero asked skeptically.
Will waved the flowers at the beast, and Raina privately thought he looked passing silly. Not to mention nothing happened.
The beast repeated the verse. And it sounded noticeably impatient. They were missing something.
“Are not offerings to fire creatures usually burned?” she suggested.
Will blurted, “Of course. This plant is used for incense, sometimes. Quick. Flint and steel, Cicero.”
The elf pulled out his fire stones and in a minute had a small twist of dead grass burning on the ground before him. Will touched the lady’s breath to the small flame. A thin line of smoke curled up from the leaves, its distinctive sweet aroma filling Raina’s nose. A feeling of wellness washed over her. All three of them waved their hands to waft the sweet smoke toward the beast.
The hydra dissipated almost the same way the troll had, but this time fading into a cloud of burning flames. But no heat radiated from the misty fire, which was large enough to engulf a cottage. Nonetheless, the three of them fell back against the dream catcher door, cringing away from the spouting blaze.
As the fire billowed above them like a length of silk in a strong wind, the tinkling of crystal shattering echoed all around. The great flame had pushed back the mist enough for her to see the wall of crystallized fire crashing down all around them.
As the gust of smoke and fire dissipated, something red and glowing became visible on the ground where the hydra had lately stood. It was slightly larger than her fist and looked like a lump of molten glass fresh from a blast furnace.
It ebbed and flowed like a living thing, but never lost its spherical form. It was shot through with the same colors of fire of the wall and hydra. It pulsed, almost like a beating heart.
As the white, featureless mist began to close back in around them, Raina took a single, curious step closer to the glowing … thing … before a piece of the mist broke off from the rest and engulfed the glowing gem. The mist rushed away on a gust of wind that she saw but did not feel. And where it had been, the fiery gem was gone. Eerie, childlike laughter, as of a little girl giggling, echoed around them, coming from every direction at once.
“What on Urth was that?” Will demanded.
They all looked at one another and shrugged. “Sha’Li would be furious that the mist grabbed her treasure, though,” Cicero observed dryly.
Will grinned reluctantly, and Raina followed suit.
As if any of them except the bold lizardman girl would have been willing to touch that strange, pulsating crystal, let alone attempt to carry it out of here. A moment of silence came over all of them as they silently mourned Sha’Li’s death. Raina fervently hoped the lizardman girl would resurrect successfully. Her surly demeanor had rather grown on Raina. She would miss Sha’Li if she failed to return from beyond the Veil.
Raina already missed the irascible lizardman girl’s presence. Who’d have guessed Sha’Li would have grown into her actual friend somewhere along the way? In the meantime, they must not let Kendrick’s, Eben’s, or Sha’Li’s sacrifices be in vain. They must complete this quest.
If only they knew how much more stood between them and the Sleeping King. Raina was exhausted and Will looked ready to drop any second. Cicero didn’t look much better. Her magic frustratingly was refusing to regenerate at all. She knew such things took time and rest. But she really had need of at least some of it, now. Not that needing it helped bring back one bit of it.
Will and Cicero were nicked and bloody, the tips of their swords all but dragging in the dust with their fatigue. How were any of them going to find the strength to confront any more challenges? Of course, the answer to her question was obvious. They simply had to find a way. Everything depended on it.
She sighed and asked, “Are we ready to move on?”
She watched in admiration as Cicero squared his shoulders resolutely and turned to face forward. Thank the stars for the elf. He might not be the most powerful fighter ever, but the kindari’s spirit was indomitable. If he had the strength to keep going, then so did she.
Will trod forward warily and she followed suit. Given how each guardian of this place seemed progressively bigger and stronger, she deeply dreaded what came next. They’d gotten this far on little more than luck. And given Sha’Li’s fate, their luck had apparently deserted them now, too.
Raina did not want to know what awaited them ahead in the mist. One thing she was sure of: death was in the air.
* * *
“What are they doing?” Aurelius whispered to Selea.
The carnage in the clearing below was hard to fathom. Anton
and his men had attacked in force, but the Boki had responded with a heroic stand worthy of epic poetry to commemorate it.
More Boki were streaming into the bowl-shaped vale, and Anton’s mercenaries were being cut down like wheat before scythes. They literally lay in piles on the ground, and no attempt had been made to revive or heal them. Coldhearted whoreson, Anton.
Selea rose from his crouch, peering over a pile of rockfall. The nulvari whispered back, “Anton gathers his men for a new attack. They must have spotted the entrance to the tunnel.”
Aurelius would not have spotted the entrance had Selea’s sharper eyes not picked it out earlier. Anton’s scouts must have found it in the midst of the fighting and managed to report back to him. Aurelius stared down at his nemesis, surrounded tightly by a phalanx of the Kithmar’s most brutal warriors.
The tragedy was that, even if someone did kill Anton, the Emperor would merely replace Constantine with a governor who might even be worse. The only answer was to eliminate the entire Empire. But it was a task so huge, so daunting, Aurelius could hardly imagine where to begin. If this gambit failed … if the Sleeping King was destroyed … all hope would be lost. There must be something he and Selea could do to help De’Vir’s boy and his companions.
At his feet, Anton’s forces pushed inexorably forward, forcing the Boki lines to give way. If Anton reached that tunnel … “Do you still refuse to involve yourself in this fight?” he demanded of the nulvari assassin beside him. Without question, Selea could turn the tide of this battle.
Selea threw him a deadly look. “Do you truly wish to see what happens when you force a nulvari to choose between two conflicting oaths?”
“Some things are bigger than your cursed honor, nulvari. And those children inside that cave succeeding in their quest is one of them.”
Selea stiffened and fury radiated off him, but he made no other response. Which was probably why Aurelius lived to draw his next breath, much to his surprise.