Steven rose to his feet. “I may go down fighting, but if you expect me to grovel, I—”
The ball of ebon fire surrounding Audrey was pierced from within by a cone of silver-white energy, the image for all the world like a shining baby bird emerging from a dark egg.
The Queen followed Steven’s eyes, her smug air evaporating in an instant as the sphere of darkness shattered in a storm of silver brilliance. There at the heart of the blast, untouched by the black flames that still swept about her feet, stood Audrey defiant, her silver crown glowing like a fledgling star.
Undaunted by the sudden turn of events, the Queen’s eyes fixed upon Audrey’s form and a rushing torrent of dark flame followed her baleful glare. With a graceful wave of her hand, Audrey directed the mist at her feet to rise. The resultant pillar of silver fog engulfed the jet of obsidian fire like a ravenous wolf and for a moment, the Queen’s face flashed with an emotion Steven never dreamed he would see there.
Fear.
“My move.” Audrey held her hand before her and an orb of silver incandescence manifested above her open palm. She brought her fingers up around the bubble of force and the swirling haze at the Queen’s feet answered.
Snaking tendrils of sentient mist played around her legs and feet, coiled about her midsection, and finally wound around her thin, pale neck. Bound head to toe by the whirling mists, the Black Queen tried to speak, but her best efforts produced no more than a muffled croak.
Audrey, swathed in a cocoon of silvery radiance, swept across the clearing, bringing herself nose-to-nose with her fettered adversary. “You’re done here. Do you understand?”
The Black Queen stared back, the hate in her eyes palpable as a stifled moan escaped her lips. Audrey’s knuckles went white, her fingers clenching around the ball of silver energy and forcing the last dregs of air from the Black Queen’s lungs.
“The Arbiters have already spoken once today about your side playing out of turn. One of your Pieces has been removed from the Board. Pray they do not direct me to remove another.” Audrey drew close to the Queen’s ear. “Do we have an understanding?”
The Black Queen offered a subtle nod of acquiescence before passing into oblivion. Spent, Audrey released her hold on the Queen and the woman’s unconscious form collapsed in a heap amid the spiraling fog that carpeted the forest floor.
“Audrey? How did you—”
“We’ve got to go,” Audrey said. “I don’t know how much time I’ve bought us, but I don’t think the other side is going to take this lightly. Go get Emilio and bring him over here. I’ll check on Lena.”
The dimly lit forest spun like a carousel as Steven made his way to his feet and shuffled over to Emilio’s side. In the limited light, Steven could still make out the shallow rise and fall of his young friend’s chest, though the bruising about his face and the extra bend in his left arm left no doubt Emilio needed immediate medical attention.
“Emilio?” Steven shook his uninjured arm. “Emilio, can you hear me?”
A pain-filled moan escaped the boy’s lips. “Lena?” he groaned.
“No, it’s me, Steven.”
“Where’s Lena?” Blood bubbled from Emilio’s mouth.
“Audrey’s checking on her now,” Steven said. “She’s hurt pretty bad, but I think she’ll be all right.” He cursed himself a liar, but maintained a hopeful smile as he ensured Emilio could wiggle his fingers and toes and pulled him to a seated position.
“Did we—” A fit of blood-tinged coughing took Emilio’s breath but Steven got the gist of what he was asking.
“Yeah. We stopped her. At least, Audrey did.” Steven helped Emilio to his feet. “Right now, we’ve got to get you two to a hospital. You’re both pretty banged up.” He reached an aching hand up to inspect his own bleeding scalp. “Can you walk?”
“I’ll try.”
Steven helped Emilio to his feet, and the two of them hobbled over to Audrey and Lena.
“Lena’s going to be all right, isn’t she?” Emilio awaited an answer. “Isn’t she?”
“I hope so, Emilio,” Steven whispered. “I hope so.”
22
Faith
The visitor area outside the surgical ICU overflowed with people: brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives. Steven sat on one of the plush purple couches that filled the room and watched the myriad of miniature dramas play out. To his right sat an elderly man sobbing alone with his head in his hands. To his left, a group of shell-shocked teenagers sat in a circle avoiding each other’s eyes.
Across the room but within earshot, a doctor who reminded Steven of Peter Graves spoke to a family of twelve, informing them the bleed in their grandmother’s head had left her with a serious neurological deficit. He didn’t expect her to recover. Two broke into tears, others bowed their heads in prayer, and the rest merely stared into space as if they hadn’t heard a thing.
The youngest, a six-year-old girl with curly brown hair, caught Steven’s eye and waved, her ebullient grin a testament to the naiveté of youth. Steven returned her wave and managed a thin smile as Audrey returned from the snack bar with a biscuit and coffee for them both.
“Any news?” Audrey asked.
“I haven’t seen the doctors yet, but I do know Emilio made it through surgery. They wheeled him back into the ICU a few minutes ago. He was still waking up from anesthesia, but he looked like he was doing all right.”
“And Lena?”
“Not a clue. The doc in the ER said she didn’t look good, but that they were going to do everything they could. That’s the last I heard.”
Though frustrated at being left in the dark, Steven couldn’t fault the hospital staff. They were doing their jobs, and by every visible measure, doing them quite well. Truth be told, he was half-surprised things were going as smoothly as they were. Despite some gaping holes, the ER staff had bought their rapidly put together story about coming upon the pair at the scene of a motorcycle accident.
“It’s not your fault, you know.” Audrey put her hand on Steven’s knee. “If it weren’t for you, Emilio and I would both be dead, along with God knows how many others.”
“Oh yeah, I’m a big hero.” Steven rose from the couch and wandered over to the window. The large section of plate glass overlooked Roanoke and the eponymous river that wound its way through the heart of the city. Why the pouch had brought them all the way across the country to a hospital in his hometown, Steven hadn’t the first clue and frankly, he didn’t care.
Audrey gave Steven a few minutes of space before joining him. Together, they watched silently as the sky pinked with the rising sun.
“Better?” she asked eventually.
Steven had barely slept in over twenty-four hours, remaining vigilant through the night for even a twinge of the Black’s presence. Audrey had dozed around two as Steven was in the midst of explaining the bizarre turn her life had taken. She managed a couple hours of fitful sleep before gasping awake from a nightmare filled with flames and darkness. Steven had a sneaking suspicion none of them would be sleeping well for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not about me. It’s about Lena. She’s got to make it through this.” Steven pounded gently on the window. “She’s not even supposed to be here.”
“From what you’ve told me, she insisted on staying by Emilio’s side, and if Lena is anything like you described, I don’t think you had much of a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” Steven yawned, rubbing his eyes. “On a different subject, I like the new duds. Scrubs are a good look for you.” Her charred bedclothes neither functional nor appropriate, Audrey had changed into a set of blue scrubs with “Property of RMH” stenciled across the front pocket.
“One of the nurses let me borrow these. I told her my other clothes were ruined getting Emilio and Lena here.”
“Smart, though with your cloak up, you could be dressed as Ronald McDonald and no one would give you a second look.” Steven, like Audrey, had shi
fted back into what passed for normal clothes. Unfortunately, he found that while his cloak shielded his appearance from the eyes of casual onlookers, it did little to diminish the twin stenches of blood and sweat. He sniffed at his shirt and grinned. “Still, no two ways about it. We both need some new clothes.”
Audrey returned his grin and took a sip of her coffee. A moment later, the ICU doors sprang open.
“Mr. Bauer?” A nurse in green scrubs stepped out of the ICU and scouted the room. “Steven Bauer?” Steven rubbed his eyes and raised a hand, waving her over to the window.
“I’m Steven Bauer.”
“You two brought in the young Hispanic couple, right?”
“Yeah,” Steven answered. “That’s us. I saw you wheel the boy back a few minutes ago. How’s he doing?”
“He’s awake and his pain is well controlled, but he’s got some significant facial fractures, a few broken ribs, and his left arm is in pretty bad shape. Still, he’ll probably go up to the main floor tomorrow. He was asking for you.”
“What about the girl?” Audrey asked.
“Miss Cervantes is still up in the OR with the neurosurgical team. Two of the vertebrae in her neck were fractured, but her spinal cord appears to be intact. With the kind of speed she must have been traveling when they went off the road, she’s lucky to even be alive. Speaking of which, officially you two should have called 911 and let EMS handle this. Between you and me, though, I think you saved that girl’s life, bringing her in like you did.”
Audrey returned Steven’s knowing look but opted to maintain her silence.
“You said the boy was asking for me,” Steven said. “Can we go back and see him?”
“Not quite yet. It’s seven a.m. shift change, and his new nurse is getting report right now. She’ll come and get you when Mr. Cruz is ready for visitors.”
“How much longer until you know more about the girl?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll pass on to day shift you’re still here. Someone should come let you know once she’s out of surgery and stabilized.”
“All right. Thanks.”
The nurse hurried back to the ICU and Steven turned to face the window, his every breath leaving a moment of condensation on the cool glass. “So, I guess we keep waiting.”
“Looks that way,” Audrey said. “You know, I still think one of the doctors ought to check you out. I mean you got pretty banged up too—”
“I’m fine. Really. Never felt better.” One look at Audrey’s downcast expression and Steven wished the biting words back into his mouth. “Hey, I’m sorry. It’s—”
“Look, Steven, I get it. Your friends are both in pretty bad shape, and it’s basically all because of me. I know you didn’t have any choice in the matter, but neither did I. I didn’t ask to be part of this stupid Game, and I sure didn’t ask to come out the other end of last night’s main event untouched while everybody else got ripped to shreds.”
“Audrey, I—”
“You think you’re feeling horrible? This time yesterday, I was dying from end-stage leukemia. I’ve felt like total crap for a year and a half and was basically waiting to die. Then, some psychotic bitch comes along, does her level best to burn me alive in my bed, I get kidnapped by some freaky samurai, nearly get my throat slit, and come close to getting burned alive a second time.
“Now I’m stuck three time zones from home, my house and everything in it is a smoking ruin, and I have no idea where my family is or even if they’re all right. To top it all off, I’m as whole and healthy as I’ve been in two years and I can’t even feel good about it because some other girl is in a hospital bed instead of me.” Audrey sobbed, her brave face cracking for the first time since their arrival in Virginia, and laid her head on Steven’s shoulder.
His mind wrestling with a million emotions at once, Steven pulled her in tight and stroked her long auburn locks. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured into her ear again and again. They clung to each other for a long moment until Audrey regained a measure of composure.
“Thanks.” Audrey smiled up at Steven, her sheepish grin making his heart race anew. “So, who’s Katherine?”
A fist of ice clutched Steven’s heart. “Where did you hear that name?”
Audrey’s eyes grew wide. “Late last night you dozed off. A few minutes, maybe. You kept moaning the name. I thought I’d ask.”
“Katherine is… was my fiancé.” For the thousandth time, Steven’s heart froze as eighteen months of anger and self-doubt rushed to the surface. “She died a year and a half ago.”
“Oh.” Audrey’s eyes welled up again.
“Hey. It’s all right.” Steven took Audrey’s hand. “You didn’t know.”
“How did it happen?”
“It was a couple days before Christmas. We’d been out for a late dinner and were heading home around ten. I’d had a few drinks, so Katherine said she’d drive. We were almost home when a high school senior in a big black Suburban flew through a red light and hit us.”
Audrey bit her lip. “Driver’s side?”
Steven nodded. “She was killed instantly.”
“God.” Audrey squeezed his fingers. “I’m so sorry.”
“Cops said the kid had a seizure. Epileptic since he was three, but hadn’t had a seizure in ten years. Even took his meds that day.” Steven ground his teeth. “Who the hell are you even supposed to be mad at in a situation like that?”
“Another accident.” Audrey wiped her tears away with clenched fists. “You have to know, Steven. It wasn’t my fault.”
“What wasn’t your fault?” Steven searched her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“The samurai. Their Knight.” Audrey swallowed. “He’s dead.”
“I kind of figured,” Steven said. “Are you okay?”
Emotion choked Audrey’s voice. “It was like a dream, Steven. Your voice in my head, the forest rushing by, the pouch singing to me like some kind of angelic chorus. I saw the silver cord start to slip from the stirrup and made a grab for it, but it was too far. No way I should have been able to reach it. Then, and I know this sounds crazy, I swear the pouch reached back.”
“Honestly,” Steven said, “after the last couple of days, that doesn’t sound crazy at all.”
“The Knight saw what I was doing and tried to stop me. Believe me, any issues he had about honor or keeping me alive were long gone by that point.”
She passed a hand across her right side and shuddered. “He got in two mean jabs with that short sword of his. I thought I was dead for sure. I was up to my elbow in the pouch and nothing was happening. Then, as he raised the sword for a third strike, my fingers brushed something hard and smooth, like polished stone. I wrapped my fingers around it and drew the queen piece from the bag, the marble shining like a tiny sun. That’s when everything changed.”
“I can relate.” Though scarcely two days had passed since Steven drew the pawn icon from the pouch, his life before the Game already seemed like ancient history.
“For a moment,” Audrey continued, “time stood still and everything went away. An electricity ran up my arm, pulsing in time with my heart. It was like nothing I’d ever felt, yet as familiar as if I’d drawn the piece a thousand times.” Audrey choked back a tear. “It was the first moment of peace I’d experienced in a really long time, but that’s all it was, a moment.”
“What happened?”
“The samurai panicked. He raised his sword to finish me, but as he brought the blade down, I stopped him.”
“You… stopped him?”
“The mist stopped him.” Audrey’s eyes slipped out of focus and her voice grew distant. “One second the tip of his sword was heading for my neck, the next my body’s surrounded in a cocoon of white haze and silver light. He kept hitting and hitting and hitting, but his blade couldn’t get through. That’s when it happened.”
“Tell me.”
“The same as with the Queen. The mists ran up his body, down his arms. Arou
nd his neck. I begged him to stop struggling.” Audrey let out a quiet sob. “I begged him to stop.”
Steven waited as she gathered herself. Together, they stared out the window, the Roanoke sky growing brighter with each passing minute. Audrey cradled her face in her hands and leaned her head against the glass.
“It was self-defense.” Her head dropped. “I get that, but it doesn’t change how I feel.” She shot Steven a sidelong glance. “I’ve never killed anybody before.”
“You cannot beat yourself up over this,” Steven said. “You did what you had to do to survive. You know that, right?”
“I know. It’s going to take some time, though.” Audrey looked up at Steven, her face a bit brighter. “Hey, why don’t you get some air? You’ve been up here all night. I can pull watch for a while if you want to take a break.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I’ve got this. Anything happens, I’ll come get you. Just don’t go too far.”
Steven’s heart skipped a beat at Audrey’s winsome smile. “Sounds good. I’ll go catch some morning air off the mountain.” He shot her a weary two-fingered salute. “Look for me down on the ground floor if anything comes up.”
Steven left the waiting area and wandered down the tiled hallway, stopping at the bank of elevators at the hospital’s center. Though teetering on the edge of exhaustion, his sleep-deprived brain raced from thought to thought. Flashes from the night before competed with images of Audrey, so sad and yet so beautiful. After a brief wait, one of the elevators opened and a computerized voice stated coldly, “Ninth floor, going down.” Steven boarded the empty elevator, his eyes sliding shut with the metal doors.
At first, he confused the sound with the normal hum of the elevator, but with each floor, the volume of the pouch’s plaintive drone grew louder and louder. He rested his hand on the white leather and found it hot to the touch.
“Here?” Steven asked. “Now?”
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