Despite the crude brutality with which the Preceptors had treated Kora ever since her capture in the square, Tess wondered if the shackles might actually have been a good idea. Without them, Kora would have had a dozen chances to vanish into the rain between Galaratheas and the caves, with or without the handcuffs. Though Tess would be sure to comply this time, she didn’t relish the thought of having to shoot the girl while she ran.
Tess pulled the gun out of her belt and prodded the girl in the side. “Sit there,” she said, gesturing towards a dry spot in the center of a ring of stalagmites jutting out of the cavern floor.
Kora dropped to her knees, the shackles clanking, before wriggling into a sitting position. A grimace showed through the hair covering her face, an indication of the obvious discomfort she was in.
Tess made no offer to alleviate her situation. She turned her back on the prisoner and focused on getting as much water out of her clothes as she could. By the time she wrung out her beater and poured out the water that had leaked into her boots, a puddle had formed around her feet.
A low ranker hurried from person to person, handing out flashlights, and relaying the message to keep the use to a minimum, in case they were being watched from the opposite side of the valley. In that regard, at least, the thunderstorm worked in their favor—no one would have been able to spot such a small party coming up the valley in this torrent.
Tess sat near Kora and kept a close watch on her out of the corner of her eye. The girl leaned her head back against the stalagmite she was propped against, but she retained her iron-cold countenance.
Maravek strode to the center of the group, his imposing figure drawing all eyes to him. “We’ll stay here until dawn. Get some rest. No one leaves the caves without my permission.” His eyes locked on Tess with that statement. “At first light, we cross the valley.”
He motioned two of the Preceptors over to him—Andrale and one of his own low rankers. He spoke with them for a minute in hushed tones. Andrale nodded every now and then. When Maravek was done, the two Preceptors left the cave, disappearing into the rain outside.
Tess wondered where they were going, but she was in no mood to ask, and even if she did, she wasn’t likely to get an answer.
She ran her fingers through her hair. Another shower of droplets bounced off her fingers. After the madness of the last forty-eight hours, she needed stability, so she dropped to the cavern floor into a pushup position and began counting. Several of the low rankers eyed her curiously, but she ignored them. The familiarity of the simple exercise comforted her to some degree.
Inhaling and exhaling to the rhythm of the routine, she began the count. One. Two. Three. Four. The motions got her blood pumping, and her arms started to feel warmer. Five. Six.
“I know he’s going to kill me,” said Kora out of the blue. Her voice was raspy and quiet.
Tess concealed her surprise by keeping her face pointed at the ground. “If he does, it’s only because you brought it upon yourself.” Seven. Eight.
Kora laughed bitterly. “Aren’t you the moral compass of the world?”
Tess shot her a glance but didn’t offer a response. Eleven. Twelve.
“But you’re right,” said Kora, her eyes intensifying. “I’ve killed people, too.”
Muscles tensed, but she forced herself to remain calm. Up. Down. Breathe.
“If you live by the sword, be prepared to die by it. That’s what my cousin always used to say. He’s dead.” Her voice was still soft, yet each word was laced with pain—and madness. “You killed him. You all killed him. All he wanted was—all we wanted—was blood. Maravek’s blood. He took everything from us. The death of innocence, that’s where it all begins. But someone has to start the chain, right? That’s how it works. Once the killing starts, it won’t stop.”
Tess was starting to wonder just how much trauma the girl had suffered. None of what she was saying made any sense.
“I wonder how all of this would have played out of I had killed him first.”
Tess paused. “Who are you talking about?”
“Daniel, of course. I had a lot of chances to kill him.”
“You only kill when fear drives you to madness,” Tess said. She was alarmed at how much anger worked its way into her tone. She stopped at the peak of a pushup and took a deep breath. “You’re not a calculating murderer, girl. You’re the product of unharnessed panic, nothing more.”
Kora showed no signs of having even heard her. She spoke quickly, as though delivering some important message with her last breaths. “Of course, Maravek has always been the target. Until he’s dead, there will be killing. You’re trying to prevent a war, Preceptor? The war is happening right under your nose, and your blind loyalty to justice keeps you from seeing that there is no justice in war.”
Tess gave up on her pushups. She wanted nothing more than to move to the other side of the cave, but Maravek’s orders had been clear. She wasn’t to leave Kora’s side. “Stop talking. Get sleep. Save your energy.”
For a moment, Kora snapped out of her rant. She jiggled the handcuffs behind her back. “Sleep? With these? Not likely, Preceptor.” She stared at her for a moment, a mix between a grimace and a smirk distorting her face. “You should have seen the look on her face when the snapjaws dug into her—”
Tess couldn’t stop herself. With her hands still on the ground, she brought her legs up and whipped her foot in a vicious ark. Her boot struck Kora in the jaw, cutting off her sentence. Breathing hard, she came up to a crouching position.
Kora backed up against the rock, bracing herself for a second attack. Blood ran down from the corner of her mouth.
Tess remained where she was. No one could have seen what she had done—the cave was too dark. Although she doubted Maravek would have a problem with it.
The smirk returned to Kora’s face, and her shoulders relaxed. “Don’t worry, Preceptor. We both know I’ll be next.”
* * *
At the dawn following a sleepless night, when the cool light of early morning basked the valley below in a misty blue light, Maravek stirred from his watchful position at the far side of the cave. He stood and made a quick pass around the circle of Preceptors, nudging those who had managed to fall asleep on the cold, hard ground.
Tess was not one of them. Maravek brushed by her with little more than a glance and a nod, but the message was clear. It was time. She eyed the group—Andrale and the other Preceptor had not returned.
Kora slouched against the stalagmites, her eyes half open, dried blood caked on her chin. Her breathing was shallow yet rhythmic—Tess couldn’t tell if she was asleep or in some sort of trauma-induced trance.
Maravek tapped her leg with the toe of his boot. “Get up.”
Kora’s eyes opened slowly. Her mouth opened, but the only sound that came out was a rasping groan.
Tess winced at the sound. “She needs water.”
Maravek looked down at her as though she’d suggested giving the prisoner a bath and a manicure. He shook his head and sauntered over to his pack.
Tess scowled in his direction and reached for her own pack. She drew out her flask of water and scooted closer to Kora. The girl recoiled, her wary eyes darting between Tess and the flask.
Tess sighed. “You’re not going to die by dehydration. Drink.”
Kora’s lip curled in a silent snarl, but she eventually allowed Tess to lift the flask to her lips. Tess let her take several gulps before pushing the stopper back in. She stood and unceremoniously pulled Kora to her feet. The girl took two shuffling steps before her legs buckled and folded beneath her. She collapsed to the ground.
Tess pulled her up again. Kora shrugged her off, though her legs still wobbled.
“Take the shackles off,” said Maravek.
A third ranker saw to it. When her ankles were freed, Maravek grabbed the back of her neck and shoved her towards the entrance to the cave, all but lifting her off the ground. “Start walking, prisoner. You know where to go.
Don’t do anything stupid, either. If we’re not at the Akorite front door in two hours, you’ll have bigger problems than sore ankles.”
He turned to address the Preceptors. “This is where the real hunt begins, men. Daniel Black may be a fox, but even the slyest of them can be drawn out of their den,” he clicked his gun, “To protect the kit.”
Tess felt her stomach churn.
Chapter Twenty
Daniel sat with his back against a tree, unblinking, unmoving. It was morning. The sun had been up for nearly half an hour, but he didn’t have the heart to wake the others yet. Ram slept in what looked like a terribly uncomfortable position in a web of roots, his head tilted back and his mouth parted open. Litty was curled up in the center of a mound of dry leaves Daniel had scraped together from the tangle of roots that had preserved them from the storm. He smiled. She looked like a little pink chick in a nest.
Despite the weariness that permeated every inch of his body, Daniel hadn’t slept. They’d traveled south most of the night, snaking in and out of the lower hills that bordered the valley to the east, and had only stopped for rest when the storm passed. Four or five hours had slipped by since then, and he had only moved once to stretch his legs.
They hadn’t seen heads or tails of the Preceptors since they first headed into the mountains, but that wasn’t a comforting fact. He’d spent the wee hours of the night mulling over their predicament in his head, trying to decide what the right move was. For a fleeting moment, he had considered looking for the Preceptors while the others slept, in the hopes that Kerrigan would be with them and that she could put an end to this ordeal. He quickly discarded the idea. It wasn’t worth the risk. If she wasn’t with the group, he’d more than likely be shot on sight. Even if she was, the word of one Preceptor wasn’t enough for him to put his neck on the block.
No, their best option was to stick to their original plan and solicit help from the Akorites in Bryn Mawr. The mere thought of cooperating with the very people that had bombed Obenon brought a bitter taste to his mouth, but he saw no way around it. The border between Akor and Cerdania couldn’t be more than a day’s journey away, but with the Preceptors on their tail, they needed sanctuary as soon as possible.
Ram was convinced the Akorites would help them, and for now, that was enough.
Something snapped out in the forest.
Daniel stopped breathing, listening. Another stomp—something, or someone, was coming their way.
Ram stirred awake, his eyes blinking furiously against the sunlight. He opened his mouth to say something, but Daniel cut him off with a raised finger. His eyes widened as he heard the noise too.
Thud. Snap. Thud. Snap. Bushes rustled just out of view.
Daniel stood silently, ready to fight or to run—whichever happened first.
A doe stepped out from behind a tree, its head held high, nose twitching. Daniel let out the breath he had been holding. His legs felt shaky. The doe stopped, poised, staring at them with dark eyes, and then darted away into the forest, the underbrush crackling in its wake.
Ram joined him. “Aren’t we a wound-up pair of ninnies?” He snorted.
Daniel ran his fingers through his grimy hair. “A little nervous, yeah.” He paused. “We should go.”
Ram studied him. “You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Still sure you want to do this?”
He nodded, tight-lipped.
Ram put a hand on his shoulder. “They’re not the ones, you know. The bombs. It wasn’t them. It was someone else. Remember that.”
Daniel turned his back. “Doesn’t matter much, at this point.” But on the inside, it helped to be reminded. A little. For most of his life, the Akorites had been the enemy. The bloodthirsty marauders hiding away in the mountains, ready to strike. Things were different now. He rubbed his forehead with his fingertips, trying to clear his mind. He scooped Litty out of her nest without waking her. “Let’s go.”
* * *
“The tunnel to Bryn Mawr is down in that gorge somewhere,” Ram said to Daniel, pointing down into the lush, narrow valley below them.
The two of them lay on their stomachs on a layer of loose slate at the edge of the high bluffs. From their vantage point, they could see the length of the gorge, which stretched east to west.
“Where, exactly?” Daniel shot a glance over his shoulder to check on Litty. She was still fast asleep, wrapped snuggly in his denim shirt. Her chest rose and fell to the rhythm of what he hoped was a happy dream. He stifled a yawn and rubbed his eyes. Right now, he envied his little sister.
Ram shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t remember. But once we’re down there, I’m sure I’ll be able to find it. It’s not exactly the biggest gorge in the world.”
Daniel studied the ravine, the floor of which, some thirty feet below them, was littered with boulders. The boulders themselves were so covered in moss, vines, and even the occasional tree, that the whole ravine looked like the inside of a colossal pea pod.
He scowled at the greenery. Their passageway to safety hid somewhere among the ferns and vine-strangled crevices. He didn’t like it. This was too easy. He glanced at Litty again. Still sleeping. He turned back to Ram. “Maybe we should wait.”
Ram raised an eyebrow. “Wow…you sure must be tired. The Daniel I know would have marched down there five minutes ago.”
Daniel snorted. “Shut up.”
“Sorry.” Ram prodded him in the ribs with an elbow. “Want me to go first? You can stay here with Litty until I find the tunnel.”
Daniel hesitated. “What if something happens?”
“I’ll come running back to save the day, as usual.”
“I meant you.”
“Oh.” Ram blinked, and then his wide grin reappeared. “Nothing’s going to happen. Stop being such a worry-wart.”
Daniel sighed. “Fine.” He kept his eyes trained on the gorge, just waiting for something to go wrong before they’d even started.
Ram pushed himself off the ground. And then something did go wrong.
Daniel grabbed Ram’s arm with a hiss and yanked him back down. He pointed. “Look.”
A wall of foliage at the eastern tip of the gorge shook and parted like a door. Out from the forest stepped a bear of a man, garbed in a dark uniform that Daniel knew all too well.
Ram’s fingers latched around his wrist. “It’s him.”
“I know it’s him,” said Daniel in a harsh whisper. “Just be still.”
Dom Maravek strode into the belly of the gorge with all the arrogance one man could contain. Daniel’s eyes darted to the imposing gun in his hand as though he would start taking pot shots at the first thing that moved. And he wasn’t alone. A girl stumbled beside him, her hands cuffed behind her back and her head hanging in defeat. Maravek held her by the back of the neck with his apelike hand, dragging her along.
Daniel squinted. Was that…?
Ram’s fingers tightened like a clamp. He sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth. “That’s Kora!”
He was right. Though she was even more bedraggled than when he had last seen her, the mud-green beater and the blond hair gave her away.
“I thought she escaped,” said Ram, keeping his voice low. “She should be long gone.”
“Apparently not,” said Daniel. “But how did Maravek get his hands on her?”
“Beats me. What—”
Daniel hushed him. More Preceptors stepped into view from the shadows of the trees, one after another until six of them had gathered behind their leader. Bringing up the rear was Tess Kerrigan.
His fingers clenched the flecks of slate under him. “I thought she was on our side.”
Ram blinked. “She is. I mean, she was. I mean—oh, hang it all, I don’t know. She helped you escape Galaratheas, didn’t she?”
Before Daniel could answer, Litty stirred behind them. She was waking up. As quietly as he could, he slithered back to her and cupped a hand over her
mouth. Her eyes fluttered open. She looked about as pleased with him as a bear waking up from hibernation.
He put a finger to his lips. “Don’t make a sound, little one. Stay here, and stay quiet.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek to make up for his rude intrusion, and rejoined Ram at the ridge’s edge.
“They’re coming this way,” said Ram. “Do you think they know we’re here?”
Daniel shook his head. “If they did, they wouldn’t be down there in plain sight.”
He watched the Preceptors wind their way through the gorge. Another thirty yards and they would be passing right below their hiding spot. Kora seemed to be leading the way, though Maravek wouldn’t let go of her neck for a second. Then she stopped, and the whole group came to a halt behind her.
Daniel’s eyebrows drew together. If the Preceptors didn’t know they were there, then why…It hit him. “They’re here for the same reason we are.”
“You mean they’re looking for Bryn Mawr?”
“Think about it. If Maravek got wind of Koldin at Galaratheas, it wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out that we were working together, and—well, given my reputation, he probably assumes we’ve been working all along, and now he’s using Kora to guide him to the Akorites so he can fish us out.”
Ram considered the theory for a minute. “It makes sense, I guess. We really lucked out on that one. If we’d been down there…” He left his thought unfinished. “So what do we do?”
Daniel drummed his fingers on the shale. “Wait and watch. If we’re lucky, your friend Nikolai will make an appearance.”
* * *
Tess almost knocked into the third ranker in front of her as the group came to a stop. She’d been absorbed in putting her feet in all the right places so as to not slip on the moss and hadn’t noticed Kora’s abrupt halt. She circled around to the front of the meager procession. “What’s going on?”
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