Katya only hesitated a split second before leaping off of the wall and taking off at a sprint towards the woman. She reached her in seconds and began hauling off the larger sections of house, straining her ears for some clue that the baby was still alive.
All at once she heard it, a tiny muffled whining from deep underneath a large beam that looked to have smashed a hole into the cellar and then plugged it up. Katya studied the situation and decided that alone she would never lift it. She glanced around and saw several large men standing idly watching. “You, you, and you,” she barked at them, “arrange yourselves around the beam. When I count to three, you lift with all you've got. Got it?”
They stood there dazed for a moment, and Katya was about to repeat herself when the woman chimed in. “What's wrong with you, you heard her. Little Elspeth is in there!” she nearly shrieked at them and they broke into motion arranging themselves as she had ordered.
“One, two, three!” Katya counted, and they all heaved. The huge beam creaked into motion and they strained to move it to the side before letting it crash back down to the ground with a resounding thump. The baby's crying grew louder now and the woman heard.
She rushed forward towards the noise, heedless of the danger to herself. She stepped at the edge of the hole and the wood cracked out from under her, only Katya's quick reflexes saved her from plunging headfirst into the hole.
“Carefully,” Katya hissed at her a bit harsher than she had intended. “One wrong step and the whole building could come down on it.” The woman's eyes widened in comprehension and she nodded, stepping backwards carefully, and allowing Katya to move forward to take a look at the hole.
It was pitch black below giving Katya no indication of what she might be dealing with once she got down there, but the wheezing quality that the crying was taking on told her that she needed to hurry.
She bit her lip in frustration. She liked plans that were carefully thought out, but there simply was no time. She took a deep breath and climbed into the hole, one slow step after another.
Once below, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she glanced around. The cellar was only still open because two beams had fallen together to create a triangle onto which the rest of the house had fallen. The weight of the entire house was far too much for them to support, however, and even now Katya could see them strain under the weight.
She focused on the baby's crying and soon spotted it, crumpled in the corner wrapped in blankets. Its crib lay around it in pieces, the volume of blankets piled around it had obviously saved the baby's life by cushioning its fall.
She unwrapped the blankets so that she could take a cursory look for possible injuries. She saw nothing obvious, so she gently picked it up and held it close to her. Its crying eased and it snuggled into her, a rush of an odd emotion came over her momentarily distracting her. Katya brushed off, tearing her eyes away from the infant. She looked back at the opening where rays of lights were shining down into the hole, and prepared to climb back up.
She hastily raised a hand to cover the baby and crouched in a defensive position as one of the beams let out a thunderous snap, and a gigantic splinter of wood flew out, catching her in the shoulder. She let out a hiss of pain and burst into motion, climbing one handed as fast as she could, debris falling out from under her as her feet left them.
Behind her she heard the house crumbling in on itself and above her she heard the woman howling in fear. The edge of the opening was in view, but nothing was left to hold onto, so Katya balled her leg muscles beneath her and gave a tremendous leap through the opening, rolling onto the floor above, carefully shielding the baby as the hole disappeared into a cloud of dust.
The woman was upon her the second she stood, and Katya yielded the baby to her. The woman took it gingerly and showered it with kisses, crooning at it while methodically checking every inch for injury.
Once assured that the baby was fine, the woman turned her attention to Katya and thanked her profusely. Katya tried to tell her that it was nothing and back away, already uneasy that so many people had seen her face and she got a chill down her spine as the woman said gratefully, “I'll never forget you, and what you did for me and my baby, thank you so much.”
Watching the woman hold her child made Katya’s heart seem to beat straight out of her chest, and the feeling of relief for the baby’s safety was so profound that Katya’s muscles ached with the need to express it somehow. What the blazes? Alarm spread through her and she had the urge to flee. She nodded at the woman shortly and walked fast towards the exit.
Outside the shock had worn off and people were running in all directions, calling for loved ones, or gathering up their belongings before someone else took them. But, with no where to put them safely, it was a futile effort. Small fires had sprung up around the city, and waterlines were being attempted. Without proper buckets and with half of the water troughs emptied, their efforts were mostly in vain.
She was about to slip into the shadows when she noticed a change in the atmosphere. Her senses told her that the wind had just shifted, the hairs on her arms noticing the slight change in movement. She looked back over her shoulder at the fires and swore under her breath. She immediately regretted her memory which had forced her to be aware that this change in wind would put the miraculously unharmed grain storehouses directly in the path of the fires. Grain would be essential in the next few months of chaos that was sure to follow in the wake of a natural disaster of such magnitude and the destruction of this important food source would be devastating.
Logic told her it wasn’t her problem and she should just go back to the gardens. But an overwhelming sense of compassion washed over her as her eyes swept across the people, causing them to blur as she watched a young man pitifully pick up ruined wares that had been thrown harshly to the ground as his cart toppled over. She shook her head to clear it of the annoying emotions. She sighed and resigned herself to moving out in the open once more and sped over to the grain-houses.
She carefully looked over the path that the fire was taking and looked around for something to stall or divert the firewall from devouring the grain. She hesitated in the shadows, cursing her collar from forbidding use of magic without express consent from her owner when on a job. She growled her frustration and sprinted towards a group of people milling about dumbly. “We need to start fires here, here and there,” she ordered them but they stared at her without comprehension.
“Why would we start fires?” asked one man, at least bright enough to find his voice.
Impatiently, Katya explained. “That big wall of fire over there is coming this way, and in order to save the grain we have to burn out the area around it so that the bigger fire has nothing to feed it to get to the storehouses, now go!”
The man proved to be smarter than the rest of the group and he jumped into action, comprehension dawning on his face, and he urged the others to help as well. Katya oversaw the placement of the fires and made sure that they were being controlled so that they would not turn on them and take the grain themselves.
Once she was satisfied that the grain was safe, Katya focused on the rest of the crisis at hand, putting her mind to work on the best solution to this problem before her. All too soon, the work started becoming more morbid, when rescue efforts turned to digging out corpses to be laid out in the streets for loved ones to identify. The panicked screams grew fewer while the mournful wailing grew louder, spreading across the city like a fog.
The sun was setting and the city took on an eerie and sorrowful feel. Even the weather after such a horrible disaster was calm, adding to the stillness around them in the sad city. It was getting late, and Katya picked up her pace to return to the gardens, a heavy feeling of grief settling over her. It was a miracle that her owner had not called her back yet, hopefully having been too busy dealing with the chaos at the manor to notice her absence. When she returned, however, she felt his nauseating presence even before she leaped silently over the wall. She carefully
controlled her breathing so that it was not obvious that she had just sprinted back, and assumed her mask of indifference.
She stepped out onto the path far enough in front of him so that he would not be too startled by her sudden presence but still he glared at her.
“Where in the blazes have you been?” he demanded, “I have been calling for you for at least ten minutes.”
Katya was about to answer truthfully that she had not felt her collar tugging, but caught herself, quickly realizing the ramifications of this interesting news and her mind raced to find a suitable alternative which would result in the least amount of punishment. “My apologizes, Owner, but I had assumed that you would not need my services whilst you took stock of your own damage and thought that it would be prudent of me to go and scout out the destruction in the city. If you act quickly enough you could use this disaster as a cover for some of my activities. Therefore, I was quite a distance away when you called.”
He did not answer right away, and he narrowed his eyes at her. She inwardly cringed, hoping that he would buy into this story without asking details of what she had found out. Apparently, she had distracted him with this idea of taking advantage of the chaos, and finally he said to her, “Well, that's obviously what I was calling you for. You should know better than to be anywhere other than where I tell you to be.” He gave her a stern look and she shaped her expression into one of humbling subservience, relieved that this hand-slapping was all the punishment he seemed inclined to dole out to her tonight. “I have another job for you.”
Once again he went on about his latest plan to get rid of someone he now thought was doing him harm. Katya let one part of her mind record the important information while the rest contemplated the relevance of her collar. The more she thought about it, the more she was able to suddenly think more clearly and much to her disgust found that if she concentrated hard enough on the man in front of her the more she found herself knowing about him.
Suddenly she was drawn into a whirlwind of thoughts and memories, twisting about her in a violent storm of a lifetime of experiences thrust upon her at once. She hastily yanked her mind-self from touching her owner's being and fought hard to control the wave of nausea that threatened to overcome her from the vileness of being so close to such a creature. Even in her carefully controlled state she felt her lip twitch and she licked it to cover the movement.
Her owner didn't seem to have noticed the intrusion, yet another piece of evidence showing his ineptitude. She fought down a shudder and set to work sorting through the barrage of information that she had just obtained from her brief contact. Most of it was an incoherent jumble that she could make no sense of, but there were other tidbits that had her aching to know more. But she would never, ever touch such a filthy mind again if she could help it and she resigned herself to the half-information. The more she sorted it all out, the more inflamed she became. She had to resort to clenching and unclenching her fists to keep from attacking him.
From her stolen memories she had been able to gather that her owner was part of some sort of secret organization that felt as though they were the guardians of mankind and therefore it was their duty to produce a perfect human by controlled breeding of a seeded stock that had been created by the Dark King. However, Katya apparently was part of a group of these marked which was being tested upon to experiment methods of control via the collar that she wore. The collar itself, as she had known, had not been made by her owner, but entrusted to him to use and report back on its effectiveness. It was designed to increase her already heightened senses and overall super-humanness, while dulling her mind to certain specific pathways such as escape.
There were many clues to what was going on and Katya could remember starting down a particular thought train only to find herself distracted. Now that she knew the reason for it she hated him, and them, even more for the intrusion into her mind. Her enslavement was even worse than she had imagined; it had penetrated into her very psyche.
She could feel her face growing hot and hoped that he would not realize how angry she was. As much as she would dearly love to attack him now, the time was not right, but still she had to fight hard to contain the urge. She would need to bide her time until such a moment when her escape would be paramount.
He finished his ill-thought-out plan and headed back into the manor to continue his supervision of the house servants in cleaning up after the quake. Katya allowed her eyes to shrink to the merest of slits and she sent daggers with her eyes into his withdrawing back.
She also knew from her stolen memories that he was not authorized to use her in the particular manner that he was and sending her on his own little errands; a piece of information that could prove very useful given the extremist nature of his peers, especially with the newest identity of her target. Her bonds were gone, but now she would lie in wait for the perfect opportunity, and when it came...she smiled.
*
King Nathair listened silently to the list of damages that the country had suffered during the earthquake, and inwardly nursed his own wounds that the powerful wave of simultaneous power had caused. The earthquake had apparently been the result of the magical barrier between Gelendan and Treymayne disappearing. His mages had explained it like a dam being torn down, suddenly all the power that had been trapped inside it was released back into the watershed of the world in a huge rush of power, causing the power wave and the physical effects as well.
The border was tantalizingly gone, but now he had the wake of devastation caused by the quakes to deal with before he could act upon it.
“Also, in the town of Cartham they report that the quake unearthed a ruin that was previously unknown to exist. We currently have no resources to explore this, but in the future I'm sure that the scholars will be drooling over the prospect of finding more clues into the past.”
Nathair looked up at the man at this comment. A new ruin held the promise of new information. He tapped his finger in excitement, formulating a plan to organize the heads of the guilds to rebuild the city while he took a little trip himself.
Once the man was finished reciting the damages, Nathair gave his orders, entrusting much of the details to the council, and more importantly the heads of each of the guilds. I wouldn't want the city to suffer if anything unfortunate happened to any of the council members.
It would keep the remaining council members busy and out of his way while he explored this new avenue. Who knows what treasures of knowledge there may be previously lost in the ruin. There is no time to waste, I don't want someone else to get to it before I do.
He hurried back to his suite after dismissing the meeting and made his way down into the secret passage.
He had gathered several of the stones of power in a circle and prepared to make the journey when the sound of a moan gave him pause. He stole a glance at his masterpiece, and saw in delight that the surge of power must have caused a jolt in her process. She had jumped ahead in progress, apparently enough so that she was regaining consciousness. He felt a touch of annoyance that she should awake just as he had important business elsewhere, but nevertheless chose to spare a moment to witness her waking.
He strode over to the table that she was strapped to and smiled down on her while she opened her eyes. She squinted in the light, and blinked painfully as her eyes adjusted to seeing once more.
She parted her dry lips to speak, but only managed a weak cough. After a few moments she was able to see more clearly and her confused gaze rested upon him before hardening into recognition. She struggled against the bonds that held her firmly to the table.
His smile broadened. “Welcome back, Jezebel,” he said, waving a hand over her eyes before making his way back to the circle and blinking himself back to the familiar countryside that once he called home.
He was momentarily nauseated by the internal tug that traveling by magic caused, but soon reoriented his senses to the new surroundings. He strode quickly towards the flickering lights that marked the tow
n. The first person he came across was a farmer, and Nathair moved to intercept him.
“Where is the ruin that was just unearthed?” he asked him.
The farmer looked at him quizzically, shrugging and mumbling an annoyed, “I don't have any idea as to what you're talking about, stranger,” before pushing past him.
“I asked you a question. Answer it.” Nathair commanded of the man.
The farmer immediately turned back to him, and responded in a monotone voice, “Follow me.” He dropped the bag of goods he had been carrying and walked towards the fields. Nathair smiled at his own skill and he fell into step behind the man, noticing that the damage out here was nothing compared to the devastation in the city. He made a mental note to make sure that they were not requesting more assistance than was actually needed.
In short order they came across the rubble where a section of earth seemed to have fallen into itself, and a passageway could be made out beneath a large boulder.
“Has anyone been down there?” Nathair asked.
He was pleased when the man answered, “No one, Master, the boulder was too big to move. Besides which, there are stories about evil things down there so no one wanted it moved anyway.”
“Excellent.”
Nathair pulled a dagger from beneath the folds in his cloak, and in a swift motion sliced the man's throat. The man clutched at the wound and gurgled as he fell to his knees in an attempt at self-preservation. It was a futile attempt, and the blood poured out in between his fingers, taking with it the man's life.
Nathair reached greedily for the power it released. A more ritualistic blood-killing would have gotten him much more, but that was time-consuming and Nathair was eager to find what was down in the hole. He flicked his wrist to ignite the body. He hated leaving evidence behind.
He easily moved the boulder out of the way, and sent a ball of light to illuminate his path as he made his way carefully down into the passageway. The remains of a large beast were squashed underneath one of the fallen sections of ceiling. Nathair stepped over this carefully, though judging by the amount of its insides littering the floor; it was unlikely to be going anywhere anytime soon. There were remnants of spells around the beast that appeared to have been blasted into oblivion when the wave of unleashed power washed over the area, but he could detect no others still intact. He was alert for additional dangers along the way, but the long stone passageway appeared to now be devoid of magic barriers or traps and seemed to draw him towards the end welcomingly.
Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) Page 6