Illusion (26 page)

So when they’d come to a small alcove off the main tunnel, he’d urged the others to remove their backpacks and share the food. They’d eaten in silence. He’d watched the others carefully for fatigue, irritation, or unreasonable behavior, knowing if he felt disoriented the others would be experiencing the same. Twenty feet from where they rested, the main tunnel separated into three smaller cave systems. One by one, they’d fallen asleep huddled in the relative comfort of the padded sleeping bags.

Now, Maya fidgeted on the hard stone.

Alexandr’s shadow fell over him. “Are your wounds bothering you? Or is it Molokh’s daughter that gives you a restless sleep?”

Resh met his friend’s watchful eyes and shrugged. “I can’t give her up. She’ll help us send the Khereb back to Mithra.”

“Hope is deadly—it can bite you on the ass. What did Molokh want?”

“Maya, in exchange for safety.”

Alexandr raised a brow. “A heady offering. And you weren’t tempted? She means so much to you then?”

Resh didn’t answer. “Why isn’t Esmonda on guard?”

Alexandr regarded him. “Who knows?”

His sister had disappeared, avoiding sentry duty. Of course, he should have expected it. What was she up to now?

Resh rose and rolled up his bedding, then slung the swag over his back. He didn’t want to think about how long he could have withstood Molokh’s entertainments. Giving in had become a mantra in his disordered mind. Time had shrunk, then expanded in that whistling darkness. All he could do was curse and twist. The demon had sifted through his thoughts and poured his coldness inside, intent on finding every image of Maya. Perhaps Molokh hadn’t known, or cared, that Resh also caught glimpses of the demon’s plans for his daughter. He shuddered, hoping it would never come to that.

Molokh had offered him a piece of advice before he’d tossed Resh back into his body. “Don’t get attached to the illusionist. She’s not for you.”

Wise words. What a shame they came too late.

He looked up to find Alexandr examining him.

Alexandr’s lips twisted in a smile, and he nodded at Maya. “After thirty years I find myself calling you Resh. She’s compelling.”

“It’s hard to be solemn when she’s around,” he agreed.

“She’s changed you.” Alexandr gestured to Maya. Tousled blonde curls poked from the crumpled swag. “Take care you don’t fall victim to her thrall. Molokh’s laughter will echo throughout the Tesseract.” His tone was all seriousness.

“In truth, the gods play us on this one,” Resh said as he stared at Maya. He could imagine her sweet smell and wanted to touch her cheek, feel the warmth of her. So many things stood between them. Had he traveled to Earth only to bring back the source of their death?

“I suspect you’re right. And yet…” Alexandr’s voice trailed off as their eyes met.

“Resheph,” Alexandr said at last. “It’s more than just your demeanor. Your eyes and voice have altered. When you first woke … it was as if I spoke with someone else.”

How could he respond to that? “Alexandr, say what you mean. You want to know if something else dwells inside me. She hasn’t infected me, but how could I possibly answer to your satisfaction? Judge me by my actions. Don’t be fooled by our past, and if you decide the worst, then don’t let me see it coming.” It was one of the reasons he’d agreed to bring Esmonda. His sister wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter him if she thought he was bedeviled by a demon.

Alexandr gave a sharp nod and lowered his gaze.

Resh pulled out Markuth’s map and pointed at their current location beneath Mount Terreau. It protected Balkaith from the west.

“The shortest route to Tau is across the Chasm of Light. After that, we need to find the exit to the second plateau. The rest is overland.”

The Empire’s surface sloped down from east to west in a four-step staircase of mountain ranges. Balkaith nestled in the side of the largest staircase, the top covered in glaciers and snow. The second step held the Enim plains, hills and foothills to the south. Clarice would meet the druid leader in Nephthys and call him to Tau. Resh had helped save Nephthys from the witches, so the old ruler owed him a favor. Balkaith’s sister city resided on the third step on the southernmost tip of the continent, near the LaBatin basin.

They’d meet up with Gaai and Pia where the last step met the shallow waters of the continental shelf to the northwest. Here the Tau witches held court. Few traveled to Tau, giving the morbid priestess wide berth. If Balkaith fell, most of the inhabitants would go by the mountain systems, across the Enim plains to Nephthys. No one wanted to dawdle beneath the ancient rock that stretched endlessly across the continent into Tau.

He could understand their dislike. The rock pressed down on him, made it hard to breathe. He began to break camp, avoided looking at Maya. His partner. Had she missed him? Was there any way he could arrange it so she remained with him? She’d refused to speak about the incident in the shop, and he’d give her the time she needed, but they’d have to discuss it.

“She’s glowing,” Alexandr said in disbelief.

He steeled his spine, and his gaze found Maya. Still asleep, she’d pushed back her swag to reveal a rucked-up T-shirt and bare stomach. Light flowed toward her as if she pulled on currents of energy. Yellow suffused her skin, surrounded her body with intricate precision in interlocking chains of translucent armor. She shifted, and bands of gold rippled across the floor, drawing back like an ocean tide. Her lips moved as she whispered something.

“Demons’ balls,” he said. What was happening? The hairs on his neck rose.

Her dagger lifted from under the ochre sleeping bag and drifted above her body. The silver snake uncoiled, red tongue darting as it stretched along the handle. The three-pronged blade was white and gleaming.

“Watch your words. In my experience, demons await an easy summons.” Alexandr reached for his sword, eyes fixed on the dagger, moments before the scent of sulfur and rotting flesh filled the air.

A scream echoed down the tunnels and the air thickened. Resh reached for his sword just as a flash of black appeared behind Alexandr. It struck his friend with one taloned hand, tossing him back. Alexandr lay still against the far wall.

A vulture’s head turned. Slitted pupils narrowed as they scanned the sleeping bodies. Khereb.

Resh leaped with a twist and landed on the wall before pushing backward. He flipped and used the momentum to swipe with his sword. The air whistled as knifelike talons passed by his neck. He hit the floor and rolled between the women. A second lion-headed beast appeared from the darkness. Lebartu.

Resh crouched, one hand on the floor, the other holding his sword. He felt, rather than saw, Maya stir beside him. Her cold hand pressed against his, either seeking reassurance or giving encouragement. Lebartu watched, its pupils flashing red. Black tattered wings settled along its leathery back. It halted several meters away.

“Come with us. We’ll spare them.” The Khereb stared at Maya, its voice shrieking like a hurricane through the tunnels.

“No,” she said.

Resh stepped to the side, and cut downward with an overhand blow. The Khereb squatted and Resh’s sword cut through empty air.

“You don’t think I’ll let you cut my head off again?” The creature grinned and revealed black teeth sharpened to form spikes.

Resh dragged Maya behind him. The healers had given him the ability to recover fast from small wounds, but it wouldn’t restore him from a death strike.

“You were more attractive when your head lay in quarters,” Resh said.

“I crave the hunt just as much as your blood, warlock,” said the winged lion. “Give her to us, and we’ll let you live.” Its gaze ran over every detail of his face.

Resh shook his head.

The beasts launched. Lebartu reached him first. Steam billowed from its mouth as it lunged, snapped so close to Resh’s chest he felt a wash of air. He dodged and flipped, shoved his sword into its side until he hit bone. He tugged his sword free and a trail of blood splattered against the cave wall.

Resh pushed back against Maya until he felt the thud of the cave wall. The lion’s wound sealed with a hiss of smoke and stench of burning tissue. It sneered and spat on the ground, then stepped closer on all four legs.

Alexandr dashed forward behind Lebartu, sword raised in both hands. Lebartu jumped into the air and landed with such force that the stone cracked. The creature whirled and flung a bolt of lightning with a flick of its charred wrist. Alexandr tumbled to the side and fell into battle stance. Lebartu sauntered toward him.

The vulture rushed Resh from the side. Its massive weight wrestled him to the ground. His blade fell from his grasp. The world pitched as if it had been turned upside down. Talons cut his face and side. Agony lanced his body as the poisonous barbs sliced through flesh. With a backhanded fist, he clubbed the Khereb on the head and reached for his blade.

“Stop!” Maya stepped from the wall, dagger in hand. Energy blazed from her like a tempest. The predator hesitated, sniggered. The foul stench of brine and death sank into Resh’s lungs. With a snap of her wrist, she flung the knife. It struck the vulture in the eye. The creature screamed. Blood gushed from the gaping wound as the knife sucked free and flew back to Maya.

Resh arched to the side, grabbed his sword, and leaped to his feet. He fended off slashing claws and teeth and shoved the sword into the Khereb’s chest with his entire weight, shearing through muscle and tendon. The beast flashed and materialized several feet away. Resh fell to one knee and avoided the sparks. Something small feathered on the edges of his vision.

Gods forbid, it was Esmonda, sidling behind the vulture.

He pulled Maya toward the tunnel. The creature screamed again as Esmonda leaped onto its back, tying its neck in razor wire. It thrashed and clawed, tried to reach for her. With bared teeth she leaned forward, arms crossed and fists clenched as she gripped the wire. The creature jumped high and crushed her against the ceiling. With a powerful bunching of its muscles, it threw her forward. She lost her grip and flew over their heads.

Esmonda’s body hit the stone with a crunch and rebounded into the main tunnel.

Alexandr still battled Lebartu. He launched into midair and swung at the creature, then stumbled toward Esmonda. He dragged her to Resh, followed by the Khereb. Breath caught in Resh’s throat, acrid and burning from the foul stench of the creatures.

Lebartu’s red eyes found Resh. “We have you, warlock.” The wind of the Abyss shrieked in the creature’s voice. “There’s nowhere to go. Give her to us.”

Resh hauled Maya back to a fork in the tunnel. Darkness crouched behind them, and the Khereb lay ahead.

Maya stepped forward. Resh gripped her arm but she shrugged him off. “Here’s a message for Molokh. I’m staying here.”

The Khereb moved just as Maya threw her blade at the ceiling. It slammed into the surface of the rock with a loud thud. The Khereb stopped, stared at her with wild eyes that seeped red smoke. The ceiling creaked ominously and the knife’s shadow separated and snaked across the rock. Black dust rained down and coated the air in a thick mist.

Resh seized Maya’s hand, but she dodged and jerked her arm up. Smoke bled from her in long curls of reddish black, hitting the ceiling with a hiss. The rock cracked, then shattered. Larger pieces of stone fell and rained down between them. A flash of hot, blinding light hit the ceiling. Resh felt Alexandr’s hand as they recoiled in one backward sweep, as if the force of a tidal wave had struck.

Resh hit the ground. Pain racked his body as he lay in a sticky mess of his own blood. The air rushed at him as the ceiling caved in with thunderous noise. He flipped onto all fours and scrabbled to the place he’d last seen Maya, but rocks blocked the main tunnel, and the small alcove where they’d rested for such a short time lay on the other side. He howled and fell back.

When stone stopped falling, the world was dark. The force of the energy wave had pushed them away from the Khereb, into the smaller tunnel and a different cave system. He tried to stand but his legs didn’t work. He crawled toward a gasping noise to the far left. Someone was crying.

“Maya,” he shouted. The moment stretched into an eternity.

“We’re over here,” said Alexandr. “Esmonda’s broken something.”

“Maya,” Resh roared.

Nothing.

She was gone, separated by a wall of rock, and it felt like someone had punched a hole in his heart.

Chasm of Dark

Maya spat grit from her mouth. Mineral flakes fell from above in a cloud of dust and grime. She lay on a pile of shale, sandwiched deep between slabs of rock. Rock shifted, dumping dust on top of her head. If she didn’t find a way out soon, this ancient mountain would collapse and she’d die.
Finito. Bye-bye. See ya round, McAdam.

Surrounded by rock, no one would hear her yells for help, although a bat just might pick up those pitiful excuses for sound squeezing out of her throat.

It was funny, really, that her life had come to this: encased in stone, shut away from the world like someone’s lunatic wife. For some reason, she knew that this had happened before: that the air had vanished—sucked away by her own lungs in a tomb—while claustrophobia had shaved away at her sanity.

She shivered, assessing her options. This couldn’t rattle her or she’d end up dying in a tunnel.

The
kila
rested against the ceiling, several inches from her nose. Or was it the floor? A horrible sensation of panic ran up her calves and spine, hitting her scalp with a rush of adrenaline.
Stop. Pull yourself together.

She wriggled her toes and legs, testing the surrounding space. There were a few inches all around, but she couldn’t lift her head more than a foot in the crawl space. The dagger emitted a dull yellowish glow. And the noise wasn’t Resh calling her name. It was the Khereb, hammering at the fallen stone.

A few moments later the noise stopped, and the knife faded to a pale yellow glow. Her shoulders eased. The Khereb had retreated; they must be trying to find another way into the tunnel. She waited longer just to be sure, and then began to shuffle her way out of the subterranean tube. Her neck ached from the strain by the time her shaking fingers brushed a rock fall.