* * *
The silence was often worse than the hunger or thirst; still it was generally preferable to the sound of Brother Vaughn trying to get information from Trinda. The sullen girl's responses drained the energy from Sinjin, and he wondered how anyone could be so unhappy.
"It needs more," Trinda said, pointing at the herald globe, whose light was fading. Sinjin turned away, not sure how to respond to such an inane statement. It seemed unlikely they could charge the herald globe in the sun without first finding their way out of where they were trapped.
"He doesn't like me," Sinjin heard Trinda say, and he turned toward where she and Brother Vaughn sat.
"I don't think that's true," Brother Vaughn said, and he waved for Sinjin to come closer. "Now that's not true at all, is it?"
"It's not that I dislike you," Sinjin began, but his tone changed under the weight of Brother Vaughn's gaze. "It's just that you are sad a lot, and that makes me feel sad."
"You feel sad because I feel sad?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Sinjin snapped, earning another glare from Brother Vaughn.
"You should be nice to me."
"Why's that?"
"'Cause someday you're gonna need somethin'."
"And you'll be there to help me?"
Trinda just raised her eyebrows and looked doubtful.
"Perhaps you'll both need something, and wouldn't it be nice if you were there for each other?" Brother Vaughn said.
Sinjin and Trinda both rolled their eyes at him, and in rare moment, Sinjin saw Brother Vaughn's frustration show through the cloak of calmness he usually wore. He took a breath to say something, but then the world began to move. "Hold on to me!" he shouted.
Sinjin grabbed Trinda and pulled her with him, wrapping his arms around her. She didn't struggle and though she was older than he, she seemed but a child, slight and frail, counting on him to save her. It was an odd feeling that bloomed in Sinjin's chest. Dust seeped into the air as the deep grinding reverberated through the keep. Relief flooded through Sinjin as the walls moved, and once again the way they had come in was clear. Still the keep moaned and trembled. Brother Vaughn pulled Sinjin forward, and Sinjin half carried Trinda back toward the main hall, which led between the God's Eye and the great hall. As they neared the junction, Dragonhold returned to rest, and what had become a near-deafening roar suddenly stopped. What remained was far from silence, and it chilled Sinjin's blood. Howls and grunts echoed through the halls, sounding like the cries of tortured animals, and only occasionally did he hear the shouts of people. Sometimes those calls were more frightening than those of the demons, especially when they ended in shrill and strangled cries.
Brother Vaughn stood as still as stone and listened, his head turned one way then another. "May the gods have mercy," he whispered, and he pulled Sinjin and Trinda back the way they had come.
"We can't go back that way," Sinjin said louder than he had intended.
With a sharp look, Brother Vaughn pressed a finger to his lips and pulled them with him. When they reached the part of the hall where they had been trapped, Sinjin nearly shouted in relief. The hall was now clear in both directions, and unexplored darkness lay ahead. Not even slowing, Brother Vaughn kept the group moving at as brisk a pace as the light of his fading herald globe would allow. Soon it would go dark, and they would be lost. Brother Vaughn hadn't said that, but Sinjin knew it; he could read it in the old monk's posture. Still, moving into unexplored parts of the keep piqued his sense of adventure--if only their light would hold.
"So foolish of me not to bring a fully charged herald globe or some other source of light," Brother Vaughn said as their progress continually slowed while the unnatural sounds filling the keep grew louder. Then he drew a sharp breath. Sinjin followed the small circle of light that surrounded the herald globe as Brother Vaughn slowly moved it over bold runes that covered a tile floor.
"It needs more," Trinda complained.
Brother Vaughn ignored her, and Sinjin nearly clamped his hand down over her mouth to keep her quiet. The sound of demons continued to grow. Looking over each rune and mumbling to himself, Brother Vaughn cursed. Holding the herald globe out, he cast soft shadows over doorways cut into an elaborate, multifaceted room, shaped almost as if someone had cut a gemstone away and left this cavity. Stepping forward, he cast out the light to the far doorways, and he stopped suddenly when the tile beneath his boot sank down with a grinding sound followed by a sharp snap. Sinjin looked up as dust fell from above, and it sounded as if the ceiling were collapsing. Indeed the stone above them was moving, but before they could do anything, it stopped.
"This room is a trap," Brother Vaughn said.
"What kind of trap?" Sinjin asked, wondering if they would be crushed.
"I think it's a riddle, but I can't see all of the runes, and I'm not quite sure."
"It needs more," Trinda observed. Sinjin opened his mouth, but she didn't give him a chance to make his snide remark, instead, she snatched the herald globe from Brother Vaughn's hands. "Let me have it. I have some."
Trinda closed her eyes. To Sinjin's amazement, the globe began to glow more brightly through her fingers.
"That's enough," Brother Vaughn urged in a low voice.
Trinda's eyes opened. At first she appeared calm, but then her eyes slowly went wide, the light growing brighter all the while. Brother Vaughn reached for the globe, and power leaped across the open air with a crack. He jerked his hand back. Moments later, Trinda made a popping noise with her lips. She turned and handed Brother Vaughn the now glaring orb. Holding out his hand to shield the light, he accepted it.
Trinda turned to Sinjin, locked eyes with him, and shrugged. "I don't have any more." Then her eyes rolled up into her head, and she collapsed into his arms. Unprepared, he barely caught her and was trying to hoist her onto his shoulder when he heard a low growl--this one not distant. Brother Vaughn turned toward the sound, and the light drove the demon backward, but the growling continued from the shadows.
Brother Vaughn mumbled rapidly while scanning the now brightly illuminated runes. "What's lighter than a feather, worth more than gold, more precious than air, and cannot be seen?"
Silence hung between them for what seemed a long time. The riddle reminded Sinjin of how his mother had explained astral travel, how she said her spirit had flown free of her body and had moved as if it weighed nothing. "A soul," he said. After casting a surprised look, Brother Vaughn stepped onto a new tile in the floor. Nothing happened.
"Excellent," Brother Vaughn said, already scanning more tiles. "What never stops moving but is always in the same place?"
Brother Vaughn's movements had cast part of the room back into shadow, and the growling grew more intense. Turning to face the demon, Sinjin watched in horror as the beast stepped into the light, its eyes now adjusted. Its first step had no effect, but the second sent the ceiling tumbling another notch.
Brother Vaughn leaped to another tile with a wheel carved into it. Sinjin followed, Trinda still draped over his shoulder, and he nearly took a bad step onto the wrong tile, but Brother Vaughn steadied him.
"What's heavier than air and flies with no wings?"
Sinjin tried to think of an answer, but the demon leaped closer to them, stepping on two separate tiles, both of which sank down. Sinjin fell to his knees. Locking eyes with the demon, he saw panic in its eyes, but that fear turned to anger and hatred. "Just go," Sinjin said.
"I can't figure it out," Brother Vaughn said, but Sinjin pushed him, and off balance, he had to make a choice in mid step: water. The ceiling held, but Sinjin pushed again, seeing the demon preparing to attack. "But I don't even know what the riddle is," Brother Vaughn said in a high voice when Sinjin pushed again.
Neither was prepared when the demon lunged.
Flying sideways, Sinjin realized that he'd been hit by the demon. Clinging to Trinda, he waited for impact, knowing they would eventually hit something solid. What they slammed into was Brother Vaughn,
who cried out and tried to guess which tiles to step on as he was thrust forward. The grinding sound of stone on stone resounded again, and clouds of dust fell from overhead. Screaming, Sinjin thrust Trinda ahead of him and jumped with all the power he could muster. Feeling the stone closing in on them, he landed roughly and had poor footing when he made his final push. The stone slammed down and caught the toe of his boot, which he struggled to pull free. It was then that he saw the other demons glaring at him over the rubble. The falling stone had only partly obstructed the hall, and the demons were already clearing the way.
Trinda climbed to her feet and cast him an accusing glare. "You hurt me."
"I was trying to keep you alive," Sinjin said, but it didn't look as if Trinda believed him. At that moment, he didn't care. Brother Vaughn helped him stand, and with the herald globe wrapped in his robes, they moved deeper into the unknown at a near run, the light still seeming overly bright, especially with the howls coming from behind. Nothing more was said about the incident. Trinda seemed embarrassed and retreated even further within herself. Sinjin watched her closely, not wanting her to suffer. Though she annoyed him at times, Sinjin realized that all he really wanted was for her to be happy, and the fact that he could not bring her that happiness was what really made him uncomfortable. After a while they slowed.
Once he caught his breath, Sinjin said, "My mom had trouble the first few times she accessed Istra's power, and I'm not sure if she has ever become truly comfortable with it, except for the things she says just come natural. I think maybe that's how your singing works."
Brother Vaughn raised an eyebrow when Sinjin met his eyes, but then he just smiled, nodded, and said nothing more. Trinda looked at him sideways and shrugged. Sinjin had no more time to speak before the light revealed a chasm whose jagged edge made it appear as if the earth waited to swallow them. Brother Vaughn unwrapped the herald globe. The light danced from dainty, crystalline structures that looked like flowers with glass daggers as petals. They dotted the walls of the ravine. The dark rock they clung to drank in the light rather than reflecting it, which made the brilliance of the crystals stand out in greater contrast. Before them a lay a bridge of sorts that formed a pathway across the chasm, but the closer Sinjin looked, the less he liked what he saw. The drop down to the top of the span was farther than he was comfortable jumping, and he wasn't sure they would be able to climb back up--here or on the other side. No solid surface topped the span. It was just a pile of stones that sloped downward on either side and into the darkness.
Brother Vaughn held the herald globe over the ledge, and Sinjin stepped back from the dizzying height, but he was drawn back by the shadows on the distant cavern floor. A pattern emerged from the nothingness, random yet orderly. Right angles and plumb lines made what he instantly recognized as a city. Moving the herald globe to the other side, Brother Vaughn illuminated more architecture, yet on this side there were nearly no straight lines. All the buildings formed curves, arches, and other structures that seemed drawn from nature. Sinjin sucked in a breath when some of the shadows began to move. The others had seen it as well, and all three turned to run back the way they had come, driven by instinct to flee the things that creep in the darkness.
The noise of the demons grew more clear and distinct, and panic set a lump in Sinjin's throat.
"We're going across," Brother Vaughn said after a moment.
Trinda just looked at him, but Sinjin could see she was trembling. "I'll help you," he said. "It'll be fine. You'll see."
Watching Brother Vaughn climb down was little help, as it was more of a controlled fall, arms waving and body dancing as loose stone provided unsure footing.
"You're next," Sinjin said, but Trinda just shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "We need to go, Trinda. Don't worry; Brother Vaughn will be there to catch you if you fall."
Trinda raised her head and looked him in the eyes, tears falling from her own. "I can't. I'm scared. I want to go home now." The last statement was said with a quavering, high-pitched note, and the tears came more quickly.
Feeling helpless, Sinjin was torn by fear, empathy, annoyance, and helplessness. There was nothing he could do to help her, yet he could not leave her behind. With a sigh, Sinjin stood with his back to Trinda and held his arms slightly out to his sides. He didn't have to say any more. Trinda scrambled up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and clung to him. Sinjin hadn't been certain he could do it, but she was much lighter when she was conscious, and he stepped over the ledge onto the steep incline, which ended abruptly where the larger stones were piled. Brother Vaughn waited, looking concerned. For Sinjin there was no more time for thought. Once he put his weight on his forward leg, the loose stone broke free and sent him skidding downward. Trinda buried her face in his neck as they fell.
Trying to make sure he did not fall backward, Sinjin kept his weight forward, and for a moment they skidded gracefully, as if on sleigh rails moving over snow, but the smooth ride ended abruptly as one stone refused to move. Catching his toe, Sinjin pitched ahead. Tucking his legs and throwing his weight forward, they rotated in the air, and Sinjin landed slightly forward on his feet, which sent him sprinting straight into Brother Vaughn, who gave a great woof as the air rushed from his lungs. The three went down in a heap, and larger stones rolled away, clattering down the steep sides of the pile. It took a moment for them to determine that no one had been hurt, but the need for escape kept the inspection brief.
With the herald globe wrapped tightly, Brother Vaughn led them into a landscape that consisted of only a pile of rubble and darkness. Distorted echoes made it sound as if enemies approached from every direction, a mourning wail mixing with the grunts, barks, and growls. As the demons drew closer, one gave out a deep roar that sounded like thunder. Moments later came the clatter of stones down the slopes, and Sinjin knew the demons were on the pile of rock and gaining on them.
"We've got to move," Brother Vaughn said.
Sinjin stepped in front of Trinda and again raised his arms out to his sides. She wasted no time in climbing up onto his back once more. It looked as if Brother Vaughn would offer to carry her, but when he met Trinda's eyes, she just buried her face in Sinjin's neck. Half running and half falling, Brother Vaughn and Sinjin made their way across the loose and shifting stone, all of it the same deep black. Nothing new emerged from the scenery, just ubiquitous stone leading off into the darkness. Always expecting to see the other side suddenly materialize became exhausting. Outside of the stone on which they tread, they could see nothing above or ahead. It was as if they had left the real world behind. Perhaps they were already dead, Sinjin thought, but then a chill ran over his skin, and a rumbling boom echoed for what seemed an eternity. Brother Vaughn stumbled when lightning split the air and showed a frightening landscape. The pile of stone continued for what looked like a day's walk, and on the other end, above where the stone pile met with a towering wall of rock, waited a city that dwarfed those in the valleys below.
"What kind of place has lightning inside?" Trinda asked.
Sinjin wondered if they had not somehow come out of the mountain to open air, but it did not feel that way. He could feel the land pressing down on him, its weight always a reminder that the world could come crashing in at any moment. Trinda weighed on him in more than one way. Her whispered questions deserved answers, but he had none; all he could do was run. When the world lit up behind him, Sinjin spun around in time to see a giant demon, its treelike arm raised in the air, blazing like the sun, a thread of lightning throbbing and pulsing as it poured energy from the roiling clouds above into a single point. The shape of it stayed in Sinjin's vision long after the lightning vanished. The giant rolled to the side and took what sounded like a dozen smaller demons with it. The darkness closed back in and left him blind for a moment.
"Our bodies form the highest point," Brother Vaughn said. "Get down, Sinjin. Get down now!"
Feeling the hair rise on the back of his neck and Trinda choking him as she clung
to him for dear life, Sinjin got low as fast as he could. Lightning struck the demons again, and when it did, they could see the rest still moving toward them. Sinjin prayed for the lightning to continue, but the darkness remained. Only a pattering rhythm filled the void. The first drops of rain struck with such surreal randomness that Sinjin could hardly believe it, but the patter became a roar, and a deluge rushed in.
"We've got to move," Brother Vaughn said, and Sinjin did not argue.
Now slick and glossy, the stone provided even worse footing, and they moved slowly. It seemed as if they weren't moving at all against the persistent, rain-filled wind. He blinked when he saw the stones ahead move in the deep shadows cast by the lightning. He couldn’t believe it, but soon they found out why as the stones were crawling with crabs. Sinjin remained still as the crabs gathered closely around his feet; their powerful claws ready to tear through the leather of his boots. Taking a deep breath, he was about to ask Brother Vaughn what to do when Trinda began to sing.
Sinjin wasn't certain if it was just the rain that drew the crabs or Trinda's singing, but they came in such numbers that he could only assume they heard her call. Either way, they did hamper the demons, even if only for a brief time. Cries and howls had come as the demons walked along the writhing blanket of crabs, and Sinjin assumed that he'd been right about the claws being both strong and sharp. The crabs had drawn around them first but then had moved toward the demons. Still more were coming, and the way before them remained clear, making it certain these creatures were under Trinda's control. The rain, however, continued to pelt them.
Shouldering his way forward, Sinjin set his mind to taking one step at a time, each one difficult, but his runner’s training kept him from faltering; he could work through the pain. Brother Vaughn struggled alongside him, not having a much easier time of it, despite the fact Sinjin carried Trinda. She remained quiet for a time after she stopped singing, and Sinjin suspected it had drained her, just like his mother's activities often did to her. There always was a price to be paid.
When the rain subsided, Sinjin almost wished it hadn't as it had at least given them a meager bit of cover. Now all that stood between them, the demons, and the giants was an open expanse of rock. The distance between them was difficult to gauge, but it was shrinking. The demons seemed tireless, and Sinjin felt as if he had jellyfish instead of legs. The light of the overcharged herald globe still shone brightly, and there was no hiding. The awaiting city still looked to be hours away.
"Never before has my will been so tested," Brother Vaughn said. "It would be so much easier to just give up."
Sinjin simply grunted in response, unable to form the words. Seeing someone he admired as much as Brother Vaughn falter was enough to shake Sinjin's confidence to the core.
"Please don't let the dark things get me," Trinda said, and her words spurred them both on. "Let me down. You need rest. I can walk as fast as you are carrying me."
Sinjin couldn't deny it; his pace had slowed, and not just because of how slowly Brother Vaughn was moving. He was exhausted, his will nearly spent. He lowered Trinda to the stones and put his arm around Brother Vaughn. Trinda, the better rested of the three, led the way, the gleaming herald globe in the palms of her tiny hands.
Brother Vaughn stumbled and Sinjin could not keep them both from falling. Neither was hurt, but neither attempted to rise. Each breathing rapidly, they took an involuntary moment to rest. Trinda watched with a worried eye and urged them to hurry, but it was too much to ask. Even when Sinjin did manage to regain his feet, he could not get Brother Vaughn from the stones. The older monk tried to stand but lacked the strength. The time was costly. By the time Brother Vaughn regained his feet, the demons were within bow range. Sinjin did not see any bowmen, but he was looking at the situation based on his training, and he knew they were perilously close.
Trinda was crying now, and with every step, she urged them to hurry. She knew as well as Sinjin that they would not make it to the city ahead. It was a goal beyond their grasp. Once, he'd tried to imagine what would happen if they did reach the city, but it had become a nightmare, and he tried to keep his mind within the confines of the current problem. To each side stood a possible route of escape, but Sinjin did not know what awaited them in the darkness below. All of them had seen movement down there, and he didn't think crabs were the only things living within the darkness. For a moment Sinjin wondered how anything could live in here at all. Then a fading rumble of thunder reminded them of the rain.
The sound of demons running, their crude armor creaking and their booted feet striking the stones, was the only warning they had that the attack had begun. Sinjin had somehow expected them to slowly catch up, but the demons had been keeping a burst of speed in reserve, and now they rushed forward. Acting on instinct, Sinjin reached out to the energy around him, energy that he knew existed and that his parents could access. He, too, should be able to access it, he presumed. Trying to remember to breathe, he reached out with his fingers and tried to grab on to it with his mind, as his mother had always said. It had been a long time since he had tried to access Istra's powers, but never had he tried when his life depended on it. That was how his mother had come into her powers, and perhaps that was what it would take for his abilities to manifest. Given his encounter with the assassins, it seemed unlikely, but there was nothing else he could do but try.
Crying out and thrusting his arms forward, Sinjin released the accumulated charge. A small spark leaped between his outstretched fingers, and there was a light crackling sound, but his efforts yielded no other effect.
Trinda just stared at him and said nothing.
His face flushed and his pride deeply bruised, Sinjin turned to her. "Is there anything you can do? I'm sorry. I failed."
"You tried," Trinda said with a shrug. "I have a little more now. I'll try too."
Before Sinjin or Brother Vaughn could say another word, Trinda cupped the herald globe, and it grew steadily brighter until it shone like a star, and she threw it as hard and as far as she could. The herald globe sailed high, higher than a girl of Trinda's size should have been able to throw, and Sinjin understood that Trinda's powers continued to manifest, even if his own did not.
Shielding his eyes, Sinjin supposed it would buy them a moment when the demons would be blinded, but without a light to guide them, he wasn't certain how much good it would do them. He didn't have to think about it long. The herald globe ended its flight, and even from a distance, it seemed as if the globe exploded before it ever struck the glossy black stone. A massive burst of energy radiated from it, leveling the demons and sending a wash of angry air over Sinjin, Trinda, and Brother Vaughn.
"By the gods," Brother Vaughn said. "What did you just do?" Then he seemed to recall himself. "Never you mind that question, dear. You saved us. That's what you did." Still, when Brother Vaughn found a still-slightly glowing and perfectly preserved herald globe at the center of an area where even much of the black rock had been blasted away, he retrieved it with cautious awe. "Come. We must leave this place. Quickly."
Chapter 13
The true measure of a person can be seen in the way they treat those less powerful than themselves.
--The Pauper King
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