Chapter 47 – Neve
NEVE
Whimpers filled the cave.
Only Thyra and I had been given eye slits, which was not a mercy, but a way to make us watch when the spiders began eating those in our party.
Our friends, my mate, the rebels, and vampire sisters that I’d been slowly forming a relationship with were all to be eaten, just as soon as the spiders cleared the mountain tunnels.
For maximum effect, the others had been propped on the opposite wall.
As their faces were shrouded in silk, I couldn’t see exactly who was crying, but thought it was Ulfiel. My heart bled for him. For all of us.
I saw only one possible way out, and that was giving the Shadow King exactly what he wanted. Freedom.
How he was so certain Thyra or I could do such a thing, I did not know. Nor did I want to unleash him upon the kingdom. But if it came down to it, I couldn’t watch the others die. Especially not Vale.
Did it make me weak that I was thinking of putting an entire kingdom in danger for just a few?
“Master,” Falagog’s midnight voice drifted out of the central cavern and down the short passage into the cave, “those of my children we sent out have nearly gone through all the tunnels and found no one. Some of them have already returned and are waiting. Might they begin to feast?”
By the dead gods. How had they traversed all the tunnels so quickly? It had taken us hours! I shifted in the silks as much as I could and felt the claustrophobic press of my cage.
“What of those in the village?” the Shadow King asked lazily.
“I’ve not heard back.”
“Wait then.”
“Neve!” Thyra hissed at my side. “What are we going to do?”
It was the first time she’d spoken to me since we’d found ourselves in this predicament. I couldn’t see her face, but it was easy to imagine her expression, a storm of fury.
“Free him,” I said softly. “It’s the only way I can think of.”
“Do you have an idea as to how?” Her quick acquiescence shocked me, but perhaps it shouldn’t. I wasn’t sure how deeply she felt toward me, but Thyra loved the rebels and did not want to see them dead.
“None.”
“Me either. I—”
The wall rumbled, and the sound of rocks falling echoed through the larger cavern—where the Shadow King and Falagog were talking.
Another whimper came from Ulfiel, and muffled shouts emerged from the other cocoons of silk.
“Neve! What’s going on?” Vale shouted louder than the rest, or maybe I was just more inclined to hear his voice.
“We don’t know!” I wished that, at the very least, I could twist and see the entrance of the cave we’d been placed in, but the silks prevented even that slight movement. “Rocks falling, for sure! Quiet so we can listen! I—”
A screech rang through the large cavern, raising the hairs on my arms. Was that . . . a bird?
The answer came a moment later when a white hawk zoomed into my field of vision.
“Arla!” Thyra screamed. “We’re here! Help!”
The winged predator pivoted in midair only to soar out of the cave again.
“Do you think the other rebels are here?” I whispered.
Before Thyra could venture to guess, a roar sounded.
“Fire!” The Shadow King screamed, and I almost envisioned him running before remembering he was trapped within the Drassil.
A blast of heat pummeled down the hall, washing over all of us. My friends shouted in fear, still blinded by silks, still having no idea what was happening. On the back of their screams, a roar rang through the rock. I sucked in a breath.
“That had to have been Rynni!” I shouted. “They’re here!”
How the dragon had gotten through the tunnels and found us so quickly was a mystery. One of many that formed in my mind as what had to be a hundred or so war cries filled the air.
“We’re in here!” I screamed.
Thyra joined my shouting, but the others stayed quiet, perhaps knowing that their muffled cries would be unhelpful. My heart raced as the war cries continued, a symphony to the sound of metal hitting rock and spider shrieks.
Then, footsteps approached.
“Help! We’re here! It’s Neve!”
A moment later, a gasping Aleksander stopped in front of me. He was joined by an armored dwarf.
“Thordur!” I sucked in a breath as the prince took off his helmet. “How—”
“No time for talking. Aleksander, watch the opening.”
My half-brother did so, as the Prince of Dergia turned to me. “There have got to be around seventy spiders out there. Thanks to your dragon friend, the big one is on fire, but she’s still killing dwarves. Now, press your body back as far as you can.”
I did so, and the prince’s axe hooked onto the silk right at my nose. He pulled down, slicing through the spider silk so close to my skin that I barely dared to breathe. Despite the frigid temperature in the mountain caves, sweat formed between my breasts and along my forehead.
“Zuprian steel. Dwarven made, at that.” When he cleared my face, neck, and belly, I allowed an exhale. “A good match for spider silks.”
“Thank you.” As he reached my legs, I had enough room to step out of the confinement. “I need to get my sword. We all do. Did you see weapons in the cavern?”
“I didn’t. But I was only looking for you.” He moved on to Thyra, freeing her too.
I nodded to the opposite wall. “Everyone there is with us.”
“Fates,” Thordur swore, but went to work, freeing each person we’d come with, taking great care as he did so. One by one, they emerged from the silks unharmed, but when Thordur cut through Ulfiel’s prison, the rebel collapsed out of the cocoon of silk.
“No!” Thyra yelled and ran over to him.
“His heart stopped about three minutes ago,” Freyia said softly. “I believe he was suffocating in there.”
Tears pricked my eyes. Today, my sister had lost both Xillia and Ulfiel, both rebels who had joined her in this search. People loyal to her. She must feel so responsible for their deaths, but as Thordur came to my side, I knew there was no time for grief. We had to move.
“An army of dwarves is fighting for you. I will not risk them for longer than I need to.” Thordur’s hands gripped his axe.
“We entered by the sunshaft, and we will leave the same way. Air workers are waiting with the dragon up top. They’ll begin lifting those without wings to the shaft the moment they see you enter the cavern. ”
“I understand,” I said and gestured to Ulfiel. “Can we take his body?”
Thyra sniffed and stood. “No. He’s too large, and we won’t be able to fight. He wouldn’t want anyone to die just to bring his corpse back to Valrun. He hates it there.”
I wasn’t sure she believed that, but no one else put up a fight and with Aleksander and Thordur in the front, we rushed out of the small cave. When we reached the opening of the larger cavern, I gasped.
The dwarves had sent a small army, and in the middle of the melee, fighting right beside the imposing Valkyrjas, Halladora and Tonna, was a dwarf with such an extravagant helmet he could only be King Tholin. I watched in awe as the king sliced one ice spider in half with his battle-axe.
Falagog fought many dwarves and rebels, but she had also been hit by dragon flame and two gryphons had soared through the enlarged sunshaft to attack the mother spider too.
And still Falagog is nearly winning. My stomach plummeted as one dwarven soldier barely escaped being hurled into the cavern wall by her massive hairy leg.
“I see our weapons!” Vale pointed to the right.
They were all piled together, tossed carelessly at the base of the Drassil.
Even though the Shadow Fae seemed to have retreated to wherever it was that he went deep within the tree, I didn’t want to go anywhere near the Drassil.
But we had to arm ourselves, so I shoved down my discomfort and sprinted for the weapons.
We reached the Drassil, and Vale immediately grabbed Skelda and Sassa’s Blade. He handed the latter to me, while everyone else picked up whatever weapon they touched first.
“You have the Fr?r Crown?” I asked Thyra.
“Still in my pouch.” She patted the bag hanging off her hip. When they’d captured us, the spiders took our weapons, but hadn’t stripped anyone of their bags or clothing.
“Thank the Fates,” I said. “I—”
“You have another chance!” The Shadow King appeared in the bark of the tree.
Although the cavern was a cacophony of battle cries and the shrieking of spiders, somehow the Shadow Fae’s voice carried all the way to my core.
“Free me, and I won’t hunt you. Free me, and I’ll forgive those who came to find you. ”
I snorted and was about to retort, but Thyra had other ideas. She drew her sword back and slashed the blade against the tree, right at the Shadow Fae’s throat.
Of course, just as the king had said when he taunted Vale, Thyra’s sword did nothing to the creature inside the tree. In fact, he almost looked disappointed, his gaze flicking to me and, more pointedly, to Sassa’s Blade. My heart stuttered.
He’d looked at my sword like that before. At first, I’d thought it was just because his mate had carried this very same sword, but now . . .
He’s looking at it like he wishes I’d been the one to stab the tree with my sword. Can Sassa’s Blade free him?
Immediately, I suspected that was the case, and I was glad I hadn’t acted on my impulses of violence against the tree. But were there other ways to free him?
There have to be other ways if the Shadow King thought King Magnus might free him. Magnus didn’t have Sassa’s Blade, and he would have known it too.
“No one touches the tree again,” I said quickly. “We don’t know what will free him, and we need to run anyway.”
The king glared at me and beneath the bark, though it seemed impossible, I swore that shadows churned. “Only the most remarkable magic can free me. Only the most powerful creatures.”
Able to call shadows, Sassa’s Blade was truly remarkable. Having gotten my answer, and wanting desperately to leave the cavern, I turned my back on him.