She knelt at his side and pressed her hand to Fiona’s wound. The other woman’s skin was pale, but her eyes fierce. One hand snapped up to grasp Shea’s in a tight grip.
“Do your worst, pathfinder. Don’t let him get away with this,” Fiona panted around a bloodthirsty grin.
Shea returned that grin with a fierce one of her own. “I will. You stay alive.”
Fiona made a choked sound and nodded, pain making her eyes go vague for a moment.
“What are you doing?” Charles asked as she stood and walked to the middle of the street.
She ignored him as she knelt and brushed her bloody hand against the stone. “I’ve made my choice and chosen my path.”
“Get up before I order the rest of you killed,” Charles called. Shea could hear the scrape of his limp as he shuffled closer.
Shea stood, leaving a bloody handprint as evidence of her pact. She turned, her eyes meeting Fallon’s. She gave him a soft smile, putting all the love she had for him into it. Her eyes moved to Charles and her smile faded, leaving nothing but grim determination behind.
Charles and his men moved toward her, leaving only the other two horsemen to guard Fallon and Braden. Not that it mattered. Soon, nothing they did would matter.
She met Charles’ gaze, repeating what she had said earlier. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Charles made a disgusted sound. “What are you talking about?
“You shouldn’t have hurt Fiona. You shouldn’t have betrayed your Warlord. They don’t like people who break faith. Now you will pay.”
“Who is she talking about,” one of his men asked.
“Perhaps she’s gone loopy,” said one of the others.
“You’re all going to die,” Shea said with a small smile.
The four traded uneasy glances.
Charles rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to her. She’s trying to scare you.”
“I don’t know. It’s felt like someone has been watching us ever since we entered.”
Charles slapped the man who had spoken in the back. “It’s a trick. She’s trying to divide us.”
Shea watched the interactions with a blank expression. Her eyes moved to Fallon and Braden as their captors herded them closer. “Do nothing. Show no violence, and you may live.”
“That’s enough out of you.” Charles backhanded Shea. The blow turned her head and opened a cut on her lip. She lifted her head and smiled, her teeth bloody.
A spine-chilling moan echoed from above them, the sound rising until it turned into a cackle.
Charles and his men jumped, brandishing their weapons at the city.
“What was that?” one shouted.
Shea watched them with an implacable expression.
One of the men stepped toward her, “You heard him. What was that?”
She looked at him for a long moment before saying one word, a smile twisting her expression. “Death.”
A wall of wind hit, blowing Shea’s hair into her face and obscuring her vision for a moment. She was grateful, especially when a great presence, one that held the chill of the coldest winter on the longest day in the darkest night passed her. There were some things not meant to be seen by human eyes.
“Fallon, shut your eyes,” Shea ordered.
Screams filled the air, the kind that came from the soul as the body was ripped apart. Shea knew she would hear their death screams in her nightmares until the day she left this world. Screams filled with agony and fear, ripped from the gut, every person’s worst nightmare given voice. There was the sound of running before more screaming came. Shea kept her eyes tightly shut, even as the presence in the air strengthened.
The screams ended, the silence left behind scarier than anything that had gone before. Shea’s pulse thundered in her ears and the sound of her breathing overwhelmed her.
Very good, daughter of my enemy’s enemy.
“Are you going to kill me now?” Shea asked.
The presence hesitated, filling the air with—was that surprise?
Would you like us to?
Shea shifted and frowned. She hadn’t thought she had a choice in the matter.
Ah, we see. You thought a blood sacrifice would be necessary.
She had. Otherwise, why had they waited to act? If they had attacked sooner, Fiona wouldn’t have been injured.
The sacrifice has already been paid, and you and the other four hold no weapons and no ill intentions. Besides, that would have defeated the purpose of saving you now and before.
Before? Shea couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes, a bluish haze spread across the ground, thick in some places, sparse in others.
“You’re the one who left the jacket on the post,” Shea said in realization. She sensed rather than saw the beings nod of agreement. “Why did you help us?” Shea asked so she wouldn’t be tempted to argue with the presence. She sensed if she pushed, they might decide she and her friends were fair game as well.
Curiosity. Necessity. We have a vested interest in your continued well-being.
“What do you mean?”
The air swirling around her stilled, a sense of weight coming from it—as if it was sentient and the matter at hand required much contemplation.
Even as removed as we are, trapped here away from the sun and the world, we can feel it. Feel as the heart awakens bringing with it the old ones. Right now, they are testing this new world, but soon, soon they will rise and seek to finish what they once started. It will be a new order, one based on their warped vision of perfection.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Did you think you could walk into the heart of where it all began and come out unchanged? No, my dear, you stared it in the face, listened to its voice. It’s not a question of if you’ve changed, but how much you’ve changed.
“I don’t understand.”
There was a great sigh, one sound coming from a thousand voices. No, I suppose you don’t. You will soon. Take your people and leave this place. You have until the sun hits the doors above the fault. After that, we consume all that has remained.
The wind brushing against Shea died down, leaving nothing but emptiness behind. The blue haze faded. Shea thought she saw the faintest outline of forms.
Fallon and her group were the only living beings that remained.
He crossed the space between them at a run, grabbing her in a hug that threatened to crush her.
“Fallon, we need to get out of here.”
“I know. I heard.”
Shea drew back. “How did you even find us?”
“I took that tunnel you had pointed out and found Clark and his friend wandering down there. We’ve been traveling together over the past few hours. Your chase through the city caught our attention. When we saw what was happening, we waited until the right moment.” He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and cupped the back of her neck. “That was close.”
She nodded. “Yeah.” Even closer than he knew. The denizens of this place could very well have decided to take them along with Charles and his men. The fact they hadn’t was a curious blessing.
“If you two are done, perhaps we can leave. You heard what that thing said. Anyone down here come sunrise is a walking meal.” Braden looked at the cavern ceiling. It was still black, no evidence of light filtering down from the cracks and holes, so there was no way to tell how close to sunrise they were.