14. An Extended Courtship with Death
14. AN EXTENDED COURTSHIP WITH DEATH
~ RUSH ~
Many floors above where my brothers and I stood, the sun must be shining down on the Royal Palace of Embermere. But here? In the belching, bloated guts of the palace, beyond the fae dungeon where the queen never intended us to go? The darkness was a weight pressing down on my body, as if I were deep beneath the lake at my estate in Amarantos, my air rapidly running out. Darkness might be all there was. Hope was extinguished with the ease of blowing out a candle.
Hiroshi, Ryder, West, and I grouped together, each of us still touching the wall we’d only just traversed. For me at least, it was a calming reassurance that I could leave this place whenever I wanted. All I had to do was walk back through the barrier—assuming Ryder could reverse whatever he’d done to get us through it in the first place.
It was even dimmer on this side than in the prison, but none of us would dare rely on a lumoon to illuminate our surroundings. We’d already been blessed with the fortune of dragons to have made it this far undetected.
We stood on some kind of stone walkway carved from the bedrock of the palace itself. As far as I could see, it kept going in a straight line before I could discern its end. Over its edges, to either side, all there seemed to be was darkness and more darkness. I would have to walk out onto the footpath and peer over the sides to be sure.
“You know how I was saying my balls wanted to run in the opposite direction?” West whispered. “Well now I’m worried they might go on ahead and leave without me if I don’t get them out of here fast. This place feels fucking awful .”
“It really does,” Ryder said. “How does she even do it? Why does she even do it? Who’d want to feel this? To be responsible for this ?” His lips curled in disgust.
It was the same reaction I had whenever I contemplated the queen and all she’d done to destroy the world that was meant for all of us, not just her and her depraved wishes. The mirror world could have been a blessing, like what Faerie had been, which history reported had in fact been a fucking delight. But instead she prided herself on making Embermere a curse.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But if we hadn’t already been decided on our plan before, I’d be ready to go all-in now.”
“No kidding,” Ryder said.
Hiroshi tossed his dagger to his other hand. He’d had to regrow his dominant arm, and it still tired faster than usual. “Let’s get moving. We need to be back and out before she catches on to what we’ve been up to.”
He was right, of course. Even so, for an entire minute none of us moved nor released the grip we had on the wall behind us.
Eventually, I clutched my sword more tightly and forced myself to step away. I stalked a mere three paces from that safety net, and yet each one ignited my desperation to get the dragonfire out of here and never look back.
Over my shoulder, I told the others, “It must be part of the spell.” We were, after all, both warriors and drakes who’d accepted that every single day we worked to better the mirror world, we courted death.
“Does it get better there?” West asked, as if I stood an entire league away.
I snorted. “No, but get your asses moving. We gotta go.” They edged forward, but hesitated, so I added, “For Gadiel.”
Even in the dark, I saw West’s throat bob, but then he was the first to move to my side. “Let’s move. Before the place falls down around us.”
As if he’d thrown down the gauntlet to whatever was shaking the castle, a roar shot up from the deep pit below us—so mighty, so powerful that I didn’t have a chance to react beyond throwing myself to the floor and spreading out flat. The bellow enveloped me like a suffocating heat, making it difficult to breathe for several long beats. When it seemed the effect would only further entrench itself, it dissipated, and I sensed a quake about to follow.
Urgently, I sheathed my sword and dug the fingers of both hands into the crevices between the stones. They were rough and sharp in places, perhaps enough to keep me in place.
I flicked a quick glance at the others, and in the dark managed to confirm they’d all pressed low to the platform. Then the rumbling of stone and earth grew deafening, as loud and enraged as the roar of the beast—whatever it was. Like violent, churning waves, the shaking force barreled toward us, unavoidable and intent on tumbling us into oblivion. I couldn’t breathe properly and panted short, shallow breaths and clenched shut my eyes, forcing away panicked thoughts of Elowyn and Ramana, seemingly summoned from the bowels of this hellhole.
I’d failed them both.
The stone beneath me, which had once felt solid and sufficiently thick, wobbled and vibrated as if it were liquid, as if in the very next moment we were sure to fall through it and perhaps never reach the bottom. That I’d ever believed myself capable of taking down the queen and saving our world was laughable when she could engineer a situation like this one.
And it had to be her. In Embermere, it was always her .
When the shaking finally subsided, I lay where I was, my fingers bent into claws where they’d grappled for a hold. Gradually, and too slowly, I forced my fingers to loosen their grip, my breathing and heartbeat to resume a normal pattern. I rubbed at the cheek that had pressed into the stone, its indents transferred to my skin.
Before I was ready, I rose only to a crouch, my instincts insisting I keep low to the ground. We were incredibly far from safe. But then, even in the Hall of Mirrors or throne room, dressed impeccably and on our best behavior, our fates were no more certain.
Intending to rally my brothers, I looked behind me.
All three of them already stood, in a crouch much like mine. Their eyes were shadowed, barely visible in the scant light, but there I saw all I needed to know. They were shaken yet equally determined. We wouldn’t run away without knowing what hid beneath us.
I nodded, they nodded back, and we proceeded across the walkway that no longer felt as sturdy as the carved stone once had. Like everything else the queen touched, it was likely to disintegrate.
I focused on how the pygmy ogres must walk this path every day, and a single one of them probably weighed as much as all four of us combined. Their living quarters must be somewhere on the other side of this footpath.
We didn’t dawdle, not even pausing to peer off either edge of the pathway in case we could make out what awaited us below. No railings prevented a fall. I kept my attention ahead and nowhere else.
It took us entire minutes to traverse, but eventually we reached the other side, where we practically ran onto the corridor that was carved out of the rock, a partial tunnel that was fully supported from beneath. The path was spacious enough to accommodate the pygmy ogres, opening to the left, to the right, and up ahead, deeper into the bedrock.
Completely silent now that we were closer to where pygmy ogres must congregate, my friends and I studied each option. All paths appeared the same: unmarked, gaping openings that certainly didn’t lead anywhere good. Worse, moving forward, they were enclosed. There’d be no hiding should we cross paths with any of the guards. We’d run smack into them. Our only assurance was that we were swifter than any pygmy ogre. We’d easily outrun them, but even as dull as the brutes were, they’d report to their precious “queenie” that we’d been down here, and then our plan would be as good as dead—and perhaps us too.
Still, our only other choice was to remain in ignorance, and there was a chance whatever we discovered below could help us wage our war against the evil queen.
The path to the right was the only one that might tip downward. Holding up a hand signaling to my friends they should wait, I stalked down the tunnel. Within maybe thirty feet, it began descending sharply.
I ran back up to fetch them and they fell into line behind me. Ryder and West clutched daggers, but Hiroshi and I left our weapons holstered for now.
Without a plan for what to do should we encounter our enemies, I strained my ears for any sign of their approach. I mostly heard my pulse, and made myself focus on calming my breathing. You haven’t been safe since you first met the queen , I reminded myself. This is no different, just more of the same .
Of course, it still felt different, like we were willingly marching into the belly of the beast. Perhaps, even with its roar, capable of tearing apart the palace, this beast would be less fearsome than the queen. In her own way, she was dismantling all that was good about the mirror world, person by person, creature by creature, night by wicked night.
The ground shifted from a smooth slope to roughly hewn steps that I couldn’t imagine the queen descending in her opulent dresses with their long skirting trains. I pressed my hands to my weapons to keep them from rattling. Long minutes passed. The air grew cooler and damper still. Suddenly absent were the ogrish grunts and the cracking of whips. The bellowing beast was silent—a significant blessing.
Straight down we went until I heard the heavy breathing of creatures. I stopped, the others piling up behind me, and waited, listening.
West gripped my shoulder and squeezed. The grunts and muffled grumbles would be the pygmy ogres. The breathing, however, was too loud even for the crude, towering oafs. It had to be as massive as a higantorus, an animal that dominated the seas. The higantorus could probably swallow the queen’s entire court in one big gulp.
I prepared to keep going when West’s grip held me back. I faced him.
He pointed behind him at Ryder, who sidled up next to me. Leaning so that his lips were an inch from my ear, Ryder asked, “Want me to try an illusion to keep us hidden?”
Intently, I studied him. It was a great idea. Silently, I told him, You’re out of practice, and thanks to her , you never got the chance to hone your skills to begin with. Do you think you can nail the illusion you’d wrap around us?
The four of us had been friends for so long that he understood the intensity of my stare and shrugged.
Again he canted his head next to mine and breathed, “It might send some kind of signal to her too.”
“Save it as a last resort only.”
He nodded sharply, then gestured up ahead with his chin. Let’s move, then .
With certain danger on our path, I was pleased to find my body settled into its usual rhythms when preparing for a fight. The weight of fear and hopelessness receded, and my mind grew blissfully quiet, noting only the threats and possible exits, the best offensive and defensive moves.
As much as I despised battle, I did love how I could trust my body to react faster than I could consciously command it. Every grueling hour I’d spent practicing, training, learning had been well worth it.
Yeah? What does any of that matter if you’re going to live out the rest of your days knowing your mate’s out there and you ruined any chance of her loving you back?
It was a valid question that I stomped from my thoughts. Scowling, I sped up, wanting to get it over with.
The end of the steps was in sight, the floor leveling out, when I slowed, then stopped.
Pygmy ogres’ voices arrived loud and clear.
“Keep it up, beastie,” one of them taunted in that odd, deep voice the creatures had, which sounded at once like that of a carefree child and also of a perverted old man. Their behavior was all depravity though. I’d never met a pygmy ogre who’d understood the importance of compassion—or simply not killing anyone and anything that got in its way, no greater reason required.
“We eat you,” the ogre continued. “Queenie said we could.”
“Ah-ha,” another said. “Yummmm, yummm, yummmy, yum, yum in my tum.”
Others laughed along with them, and I held up my fingers as I counted them all off. One, two, three, four .
I glanced over my shoulder to find Hiroshi shaking his head and holding up five fingers.
Feeling as if I were actually stretching my ears so as to better hear whatever my friend was picking up on, I waited and listened. Ah . There. A fifth one snorted softly.
Preparing to invade at least one of their minds right away—I had to be able to look into their eyes for my power to work—I turned to confirm the guys were ready—and froze.
They noticed my reaction and spun to face our newest threat.
Slowly, so as to negate the telltale shiiing of drawing blades, I pulled my two remaining daggers. Throwing knives would be too slow for the feethles filling the stairway behind us.
Their teeth were bared, their hackles were up, and their eyes glowed blood red.
These were the queen’s pets, and there were enough of them to overwhelm us as they alerted the pygmy ogres just around the corner from where we stood to our presence.
It appeared our good luck had abandoned us when we needed it most.