Echoes in the Dark (62 page)

The
women glided through the room, spinning, laughing nervously, then went into the
passage and vanished.

The
sled began to tumble.

Stop!
Jaquar
commanded.

Luthan
snapped his mouth shut. So did the other men. The sound of their clashing notes
echoed and died.

I
am
a weather mage.
Jaquar’s mental tone was acid.
A Circlet of Air. You
will leave this task to me.

Everyone
quieted. The sled righted itself, spun slowly as if in a slight wind. Settled
onto a course toward the opening the women and the gong had disappeared into.

Then
a dreeth shot into the cavern from another entrance, followed by masses of
horrors from several other holes. Some monsters fell to their deaths,
screaming. The cavern was filled with awful noise again.

Singing Chamber inside the Dark’s Nest

J
ikata gasped as
the gong shot into the lower chamber, tilted and left them falling. With Song
and swears, Marian slowed their descent. It was a short drop, no more than
twelve feet, but at the rate they’d been going…

The
feycoocus swooped down and took the gong away, darting back into the tube. The
chamber
was
like the Cavern of Prophecy with crystals on all the walls
and the domed ceiling, in the same colorful patterns.

Jikata
lurched from her feet as the mountain began to roll and buck under them,
reached
for all that connected her to Amee. Couldn’t find it here. Not like the Cavern
she knew at all.

The
volcano had been too shadowed in the Dark for too long.

All
the others looked terrified. “We don’t have a good connection to the planet,”
Marian said, her voice high and shaky, her face pale. “I hadn’t thought of
that. We can’t—”

“Stop
it!
No negativity!
We
will
do this,” Alexa yelled, crawled over
the ground to the lower left point of a pentagram etched in the stone. Alexa
was the first Summoned, the warrior, she might have a better link to the
planet.

Alexa
found her place, sat, glared at them all and Jikata felt her huge
determination. It buoyed her, steadied her.

“If
we can’t stand, we will sit. If we can’t sit, we will lie down. We
will
do this,” Alexa shouted.

A
rock hit her in the head, clanging on her helmet. Alexa groaned, shook her
head.

Jikata
crawled to the middle of the pentacle and prepared to give the performance of
her life.

45

Upper Cavern
inside the Dark’s Nest

T
he mountain
rumbled, tossed the sled about, Jaquar steadied it.

Then
the Master appeared, raised twisted arms, deformed hands and
grasped.
“We rule here, no fresh air here, no air that obeys anyone other than me. Fetid
air, blow them down to die!”

He
yanked his arms and the sled fell into the crowd of horrors.

More
monsters died.

They
jumped free, Luthan and Bastien and Faucon on one side, Sevair, Marrec, Jaquar
and Koz on the other. Luthan and Faucon pulled swords, lifted their shields,
fought. Bastien drew a sword and his Marshalls’ baton and cut a swath as
creatures flung themselves away from the bright, searing energy of it, fueled
by his wild Power.

“Jaquar,
look for the right opening, figure out a way to get us there,” Sevair, the
Townmaster, ordered. His grin was fierce. “Leave the Master to me.”

There
was a human cry and Luthan saw Koz pressing a hand against his throat where
blood welled.

Jaquar
shouted words and Koz was lifted to the hole in the middle of the wall, shoved
down the chute to the lower cavern.

Luthan
went after the sled.

The
Master began to chant a spell to Summon all the horrors in the nest to here.
Sevair hesitated, then broke away, fought through monsters toward the man who
had betrayed him.

Singing Chamber inside the Dark’s Nest

F
ollowing Alexa’s
example, they took their positions. Raine gritted her teeth and tried to
pretend the shaking beneath her feet was a wooden deck, not stone.

It
didn’t work.

She
took her mark at the tip of the western point of the star. Calli was opposite
her, Marian was in the lower right point, Bri at the top, the north. Alexa was
in the lower left point and Jikata was in the middle.

The
earth tremors stopped and they all stood.

Raine
began her breathing exercises, thumbed off the music player, removed the
earbuds, flinched when she heard noise of fighting, of cries from monsters and
men—their men—from the cavern above. She just wanted things to
happen.
All the nerves of her skin felt exposed, raw.

Marian
had given Jikata the weapon knot and it lay at her feet, throbbing to a beat
that seemed to match Raine’s heart.

Jikata
hummed middle C and everyone stilled.

“After
the Blessing and opening chorus finish, the City Destroyer spell is initiated,
the knot starts to untie.” They’d practiced with other knots so Raine was sure
seeing thread wriggle wouldn’t panic her. “After the first, basic knot is
untied, the spell can’t be stopped. The minute one of us moves from our mark
the explosion will occur. We want that to be
after
our men are here and
the final protective shield is Sung.”

“Yeah,
yeah,” Alexa muttered, tilting her head as if listening more to what was going
on in the upper cavern or outside the mountain.

“The
sequence, Alexa,” Jikata commanded.

Alexa
said, “Blessing. First chorus. Calli Sings, Marian Sings, Bri Sings, I Sing,
Raine Sings, you Sing. Each of us untying one of the main knots of the whole
thing.” She stared at the complex knot.

To
Raine, it looked like it was growing and pulsing faster, redder. She shivered.
Shouldn’t she be hot? But she was cold, from the inside out.

Alexa
continued, “The guys show up during the ritual. Before the last verse we do a
mental broadcast for everyone to get the hell off the island and back to the
Ship. Then the last verse with all of us to undo the thread, encase us in a
shield bubble to protect us, then
boom.
” She jerked her hands apart.
“The mountain explodes, killing the Dark. We either remain safe here or go
flying. Marian and Jaquar take care of us with their Power if we go flying.”
Alexa grimaced. “Too bad we couldn’t practice that part.”

“Too
draining,” Marian said.

“Yeah,
yeah,” Alexa repeated. “The Ship comes and picks us up.” She pulled out her baton
and waved it around, the flames on the end ignited. “Happily-ever-after
ending.”

“Exactly,”
Jikata said. She Sang scales, and they all followed, listening to the sound
echo off the dome around them.

“Ah!”
Alexa shuddered, put a hand over her heart, stood straight, looked at Calli,
who was trembling, too. “Lost a pair of Marshalls and a pair of Chevaliers.”
She glanced at Raine. “One of Faucon’s.”

Raine
should have known—she cast her mind to Faucon. Fighting, uninjured. She’d been
too damn preoccupied with herself.

Alexa
twitched a smile on her face. “Our men are winning.” She looked at Jikata. “And
we’re going to win, too.” Alexa’s nostrils flared. “Time to kill this thing.”

Marian
said, “The Dark’s aware of us and the gong. Moving in two directions
sluggishly, calling for the Master of horrors.”

Bri
lifted her chin. “Sevair will take the Master out.”

Raine
didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sounded to her like the
“things go to shit” part of the invasion plan they’d anticipated had started.

“Focus,
and breathe, and
now!
”

They
began the Blessing and it was beautiful, six voices rising in a purity of
sound, setting the crystals to vibrating around them. Calmness settled over
Raine. It had begun. The beginning of the end.

Then
Koz fell through the hole in the ceiling, wounded, limp.

Ayes,
the end.

O
n the last
phrase of the Blessing, Jikata’s voice broke, destroying the pattern. She shut
her eyes, shuddering. She
must
control her voice, but the Dark inside
the mountain hated them and she couldn’t feel any link with Amee. Throat hoarse
from the nasty air around her, she sent mentally,
We will start again.

Ayes,
Alexa said.
Marian and the others echoed.

But
they only got through the first verse again when the mountain bucked. Crystals
fell, shards flew.

Marian
shrieked and held up her left hand. They all stared. Her little finger had been
severed. Bri scuttled over. She and Marian looked around. For the lost finger,
Jikata realized, and knew if she didn’t turn away she’d vomit.

Face
white, Marian hissed a word and Jikata saw the flesh of her hand flash red with
searing flame. Marian flinched as the wound was cauterized.

Jikata’s
eyes met Raine’s. They shook their heads at the same time. Raine pressed a hand
to her side. Jikata hated that. It reminded Jikata of Amee with the leech, the
planet she couldn’t reach, and without that connection they might all fail.

Dying
was bad.

Failing
was worse.

Evil
cackled, an ominous smoke filled the small room. The Dark knew they were there,
knew what they were trying to do. Sent a wave of triumph at them—
You cannot.
The words sliced at Jikata’s mind like frozen razors.
Amee can’t reach you
in my domain.

We
must establish a link!
Alexa said. With all her Power, Alexa
reached,
drew them all into the fight against the Dark, battled the roiling smoke back,
then sent their minds plunging down, down, down, through the mountain, a
spearhead, angled around the Dark in its innermost lair. Down into the earth
beneath the mountain, first fiery lava, then frozen tundra. They
all
reached, they
all
Sang in their minds for Amee.

They
all begged.

They
felt a torpid tendril of support, a tiny wisp from Amee, and it refreshed
Jikata, the others.

The
Dark snapped it.

They
wept.

Upper Cavern, inside the Dark’s Nest

L
uthan fought
horrors, heading for the sled.

“I
know you, Dapince,” Sevair shouted the Master’s—the once-man’s—name. Names had
Power. “You can’t finish that spell to bring more horrors here correctly. You
always screw up. You were a good assistant—” Sevair shrugged “—but not my
best.” Another shrug, casual for a man yelling at the top of his lungs. “Not
creative. You only know what you’re told, don’t you?”

“That’s
a lie!” The Master didn’t truly speak, more like gurgled, rasped. And even with
those words, his spell dissolved.

His
mouth worked, he looked at Sevair, terrified.

Froze.

Long
enough that Sevair could throw his hammer to split the Master’s head open and
smear his brains against a wall.

The
mountain shuddered, air clapped against Luthan’s ears like thunder.

Some
of the horrors dropped, unconscious or dead.

Too
many remained.

Luthan
carved his way through the horrors, swinging his sword relentlessly.
Soulsucker, render, slayer. Behead, thrust, slice. Kill.

Act.
Do not think.

Then
he was within reach of the sled, droplets of body acid from a slayer burning on
his cheek. Stings that meant he was alive. He grabbed the sled’s rope, slick
with blood of horrors. Turned back to see the other men fighting, shouting,
killing.

Grimly
hauling the sled back, he was close to the rest of them when the specter of his
dead father rose. Dread filled Luthan as he saw the man. Ghost or projection
from himself or splinter of the Dark?

It
didn’t matter. Anger flashed through Luthan. He’d needed his father, dammit!
Needed him all his life, a
good
father, not a damned tyrant.

But
he’d never needed him as much as he did now, when his woman’s life, his
brother’s, his friends’, his own and the fate of Amee all hung in the balance.

A
render swiped at Luthan, hit, flinging him back away from the defense and
protection of the others. No blood, only bruises—the dreeth skin had held.

“No,
you will never be the man I am,” his father gloated.

“Prove
it,” Luthan shouted. He flung up his shield against a flurry of slayer spines
that thudded into it. His gaze burned into the cold form that was his father.
“All your life you wanted fame, you wanted power, and you used the fight with
the Dark to get it.
So fight the Dark!
” Luthan curled his lip, panted to
increase the blood flow to his mind, his lungs, his limbs. “Those who fight
this battle will be remembered forever. You died before you reached this
pinnacle.”