Blood Witch (21 page)

Three witches dead
at her hand. Three left alive. Wind, water, fire. But where was
earth? Without the fourth there could be no balance, and she stared
at the cracks in the soil, the fissures now turned to brooks, the
chasms turned to rivers.

She recognized the
power now as surely as she recognized her own hand.

The witch who
commanded the clay was alive.

Chapter 20

Aedus met her at the gate looking breathless with
excitement. Even from a dozen mount strides away, Alaysha could
make out the glow of exertion on her face beneath the strings of
muddy hair. She shifted one foot to the next impatiently and
grabbed Alaysha's leg when Barruch reined in close enough.

The girl wasted no
time delivering her news.

"I know where he
is. I know where Edulph is."

Alaysha's gaze
went to the gates with a feeling of certain dread. "Inside?"

Aedus nodded.
"Inside but not where you think. Inside the mountain." She took in
Alaysha from head to toe. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure,"
she said. "Something – something very strange."

"Here too," Aedus
said.

"How so?"

"You'll see."

The girl looked
incredibly old in the moment. If it weren't for the strings of
matted hair, the bare feet, and the filthy face, Alaysha would
swear she looked at a woman grown.

"Tell me," she
said.

"I'll do better."
Aedus grinned broadly. "I'll take you."

Alaysha expected
the girl to go back to the gates, but she pushed through a thicket
of shrubs in the same direction as her nohma's cottage. She climbed
down from Barruch's saddle and gripped his lead.

"How far?"

"You'll be
amazed." Aedus said from over her shoulder. "I watched Yenic like
you told me to and soon enough after a couple of days I noticed he
left the city to come out here. Always with a trencher bread,
sometimes a cauldron of broth."

"Food for
someone."

"Food for
Edulph."

"You're sure you
saw him."

The girl stepped
over a log that had fallen onto the path. By daylight, Alaysha
found herself seeing the old terrain with six-year-old eyes. She
could have led Aedus directly to the cottage but when Aedus veered
right and headed back toward the city, Alaysha got confused.

"I thought it was
at the hovel."

She saw the girl
shook her head.

"Better than
that." She peered over her shoulder again. "Maybe you should leave
him back there." She nodded toward the ruins of the cottage. "It
gets a little snaky."

Alaysha considered
going back but now she was so close she hated to do so. She took
Barruch's lead and wrapped it around a tree.

"We won't be
long," she told him, then faced Aedus. "Let's get going."

The girl continued
on, ducking beneath low hanging branches and continuing the chatter
as she went.

"When I remember
that night you were with him, I couldn't recall seeing him coming
through the way we'd both come." She halted suddenly, cocking her
head as though she'd heard something but after a few moments spoke
again. "I came out to the ruins and looked around and noticed a
subtle path that led away from the cottage but toward the
mountains. I knew it wasn't deer. The ground didn't tell that
tale."

"It was too
recent."

"No. Too old."

Alaysha gave her a
queer look and then studied the ground. "It looks like it was once
a well-worn path."

"Right. So I
watched Yenic one morning, stuffing bread into his tunic. He came
out here."

I thought began to
dawn on Alaysha, one that made her feel queasy.

"He didn't follow
me that night; he was coming back from Edulph."

Aedus gave the
briefest of compassionate nods. "I'm sorry, Alaysha."

She tried to shrug
it off and appear as though it didn't bother her, but she couldn't
help feeling a grimace had frozen on her face. She had to say
something to get rid of it.

"Did you go
in?"

Aedus looked at
the ground. "No."

Alaysha guessed
she'd not wanted to see the brother who had betrayed her. Not by
herself.

"You want me to
go?"

She looked like
she took a deep breath, bracing herself. "I'll go with you."

"Are you
sure?"

It took a moment,
but the girl nodded. "I'm ready."

Alaysha went
first, entering the mouth of the cave, a cave very much like the
one she'd holed up in herself after nohma died. It was of a height
that made walking upright easy, almost as though it was a dug
tunnel. Every so many feet for a long while, there was a natural
skylight varying in size from that of a fist, to a head for any
available light to get through. The further in they went, she
noticed corroded discs that were somewhat convex in shape. She
wasn't sure at first what they were until she spied an old oil lamp
next to one of them.

"Whoever use this
time to use these to bring the light," she murmured.

"What?"

Aedus stepped
close and Alaysha scraped at the surface to show her. "See?
Polished copper beneath." She looked back and could clearly make
out a line of discs that in their day would have reflected one to
the next.

"Why not torches?"
Aedus held hers up and it sputtered. Alaysha peered further down
the tunnel.

"It goes for a
long way. Maybe they were worried about losing the air."

In fact, the more
she looked, the more directions she could see the tunnel branching
off into.

"We're going to
get lost," Alaysha said. "I should have brought something to mark
as we go."

Aedus peered into
the darkness. "If Yenic can find his way, we can." She ran the
torch across the floor of the cave, then along the walls. "All we
have to do is follow the sconces and the discs. I bet if Yenic has
Edulph in here somewhere, he would need some markings to get
around. And I bet he used what was here."

Alaysha shot her a
proud smile. "Good thinking."

The girl shrugged.
"Common sense."

As they moved
along, and the tunnel got more humid, Alaysha sensed they were
heading toward the center of the mountain. It grew so hot she felt
the sweat run down her spine, and just as she was about to give the
escapade up for ridiculous, the tunnel broke into a room twice as
wide as the bathhouse.

That was where the
similarity ended.

Inside, the
chamber caught the light of their torch and reflected it repeatedly
by itself, lighting the room as though it had an open roof to the
sun. The walls were smooth and polished and as white as any tooth
on Bodiccia's arm bracelet.

"Dear deities, it
looks like the inside of the skull." She said as she stepped in.
She expected Aedus to say something and when she didn't, Alaysha
turned to her.

The girl stood
there paralyzed. Her face held shock and recognition, and a queer
seesawing of her jaw had begun making the girl's teeth grind. She
began to tremble, her scrawny shoulders moving as though someone
was shaking her.

"What is it,
Aedus?"

"I don't
know."

"It's beautiful."
Alaysha could hear the wonder in her own voice and reached out to
touch the wall. It felt cool, but warmed to her Palm almost as
though a vibration hummed through it.

"Yes," Aedus said.
"But something else too." She looked to be working at pulling in
air and Alaysha put her arms around the girl's shoulders, hugging
her close until the trembling stopped.

"I'm sorry," the
girl said and Alaysha smiled for her, was about to tell her
everything was fine when a feeble shout met her ears and she turned
to the center, where she thought it had come from.

"Edulph?" She
heard herself saying, but no other sound came back. She nodded
toward the dais in the middle, a granite block out of place in the
cavern, then she looked at Aedus. "Sounded like it came from
there."

She had to pull
Aedus along as she rushed over and climbed the smooth steps of the
dais to peer down. What looked rectangular from the door appeared
circular from on top of the platform.

And it was
hollow.

With a quick
breath, Aedus leaned over, holding the torch aloft. Below, about a
kubit down sat Edulph. His moustache and hair looked singed and the
hands he held in front of his face to block the sudden light were
scarred and blistered.

Alaysha felt no
pity for the man, but she reminded herself that this was Aedus's
brother. It must be painful for her nonetheless.

Aedus was the one
who spit into the hole. "You're a disgrace to our people, Edulph,"
she said. "You're a shame to us."

The sly grin,
despite the obvious pain and hunger, stole over his face when he
recognized his young sister.

"Aedus," he said,
his voice crackling from lack of use. "Get me out of here."

"You should rot
here."

"I am rotting,
can't you see?" He held up his hands to the light. "Throw down a
rope."

"There is no
rope."

"Go get some
before she gets back."

Alaysha pushed
Aedus aside. "Who? Before who gets back?" She knew the answer even
if he refused to give it.

"You're as bad as
she is, wanting answers, always answers." He began mumbling
incoherently, punctuating his words with a few vehement strikes to
his face.

"I won't say
anything. To speak is to die." He began to sob.

Alaysha felt
something niggle up her spine. "I won't kill you."

"The answer will
kill me."

Alaysha scanned
Aedus's face, hoping she could interpret her brother's
dementia.

"Edulph, brother,
who has you so frightened?"

Alaysha wanted to
hear the name even if she knew whose it would be. She waited,
breath inhaled as she peered down, watching Edulph rocking back and
forth, holding his hands to his chest like a hurt child.

"Who?" She
pressed.

When she expected
the answer, a voice crept to her from behind that made the fine
hairs on the back for neck perk to attention. She knew when she
turned around who would be standing there.

"I asked why
you're here, Alaysha?"

She pushed herself
to stand and turned slowly to face Yenic, praying he didn't have a
weapon in his hand. She raised her hands in surrender as she faced
him.

Relief swept over
her when she saw the only thing he held onto was a bucket and a
length of rope.

"I might ask you
the same thing." She took a step toward him, indicating with her
palm that Aedus should stay still.

Yenic looked down
at his load. "I've come to feed him."

Aedus jumped to
her feet even as Edulph began squealing in the pit like a pig for
its dinner. "You've had him all this time." Her voice trembled with
accusation and hurt.

Yenic nodded. "Of
course. You don't think I'd hand him over to the conqueror until we
were sure of his intent." He looked at Alaysha. "Alaysha? Surely
you can see that?"

She wanted to
believe him. It could be true. She licked her lips, wanting to tell
him she understood. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He had no time to
answer. Even as his mouth opened, the tunnel emptied a dozen or
more men in the room and it erupted with activity. At least three
dozen of Yuri's guard stormed the cavern, spreading out in battle
positions, several jumping toward Yenic before he could drop the
bucket.

It was the first
time she'd seen him in action except for the one-on-one with Gael.
This time, Yenic's movements were fluid and somewhat magical. He
ducked and dodged, using the contents of the bucket – hot soup
apparently – as the first weapon.

He was doing just
fine until Yuri strode into the cavern, and Bodiccia alongside him.
With a short nod, he set the fierce woman on Yenic, and despite his
obvious non-compunction to do battle with a woman, she showed her
obvious mastery within heartbeats.

Alaysha had never
seen such a method of fighting before. All over the ground,
wrapping herself over him, sneaking under him, grabbing for his
neck even as he worked to keep her off her feet, Bodiccia showed no
mercy and seemed to need none. In the end, it was Yenic who lay on
the floor of the cave, Bodiccia over him, her forearm across his
neck, the Python thickness of her legs wrapped around his, his
chest pinned beneath her hips.

The others came to
her aid and extracted him from her tight grip within moments,
pulling his arms behind his back, then bending him forward to wrap
a heavy chain around his neck.

In all the time,
Yuri said nothing. Now he moved to the center of the cave and
addressed Yenic with something of a victorious air. "It appears as
though you have killed my trainer. That's an offense to me that is
punishable by death." He sent a scathing glance toward Alaysha,
giving her an opportunity for argument, but sending the message
that he expected none. She thought he wanted to chastise her but
opted against it.

"Even worse," Yuri
said. "Is knowing you have been harboring a man who threatened to
annihilate my entire city and those who live in its borders." He
looked toward the dais where Edulph's shouts still sounded. "Do not
feed him; he doesn't deserve to eat," he said to a few of his
soldiers. "And remain here until I decide what to do with him."

He glared at
Alaysha. "You will leave, Witch, and return to your hovel until I
have need of you." He turned and went back out of the tunnel, all
but a dozen of his men following him. The remainder took stations
around the dais.

Alaysha looked to
Aedus whose shoulders had slumped miserably. She reached her hand
out to the girl and they trudged from the tunnels quietly, sullen.
The only thing that brightened Aedus's spirit was the sight of
several small beetles scuttling from beneath a rock she kicked when
they exited the tunnel and into the woods around Alaysha's
cave.