Читать книгу Battle for Cymmera - Dani-Lyn Alexander - Страница 9

“Close the grate behind you,” Mia whispered.

Ryleigh fumbled with her foot until she found the grate and shoved it back into place.

Chayce could have seen them disappear behind the thrones. If he knew about the tunnel, it’d be easy enough to intercept them.

She crawled past the first few curves before she risked a soft whisper. “How did you know about this tunnel?”

They moved quickly through the darkness, the moldy odor tickling her throat. She tried to muffle a cough, the effort emphasizing the pain in her side.

“Elijah. He showed it to me a while ago. When we opened the throne room door and saw what was happening, he told me to go now. I knew immediately what he meant.” Her shaky inhale echoed back to Ryleigh. “I knew what was about to happen.”

“Elijah foresaw this?”

“Yes.” As they rounded a sharp turn, a small square of light appeared. “And so did I.”

Silence descended, heavy in the stillness of the dark tunnel. Claustrophobia threatened to suffocate her as she followed blindly behind Mia.

They reached another grate, and Mia shoved it open and crawled out onto the kitchen floor.

Ryleigh followed, shock forcing her to function on autopilot.

Mia had mentioned knowing things once before, but Ryleigh hadn’t been ready to accept the fact she might actually see the future. She couldn’t deal with that right now.

Jackson was gone. Elijah was dead. Cymmera was under attack. This was not the first time Ryleigh had dealt with a war in Cymmera, but last time she thought Elijah might be a traitor. This time she suffered not only with the grief of his death, but the fact he’d sacrificed his life to save her. She choked on the guilt.

Screams came from the hallway. She swung around and searched for something to use as a weapon.

The kitchen doors cracked open. Lucas poked his head in and looked around, then gestured behind him. He swung the door wide and held it open, his sword held ready.

A Guardsman strode through with a toddler tucked beneath one arm. He wrestled a boy of about seven or eight into the kitchen.

The child screamed wildly for his mother, clawed the Guardsman’s arm, kicked him, and tried to squirm free of his hold.

He only adjusted his grip on the smaller child, held the boy tighter, and dragged him across the kitchen.

If they didn’t take a minute to quiet the boy down, he’d surely draw the attention of the savages. Why didn’t they wait for his mother or stop and comfort him? Ryleigh started toward him.

Lucas’s glare stopped her. He shook his head.

Understanding dawned. She’d hoped the Cymmeran soldiers would be able to confine the attack to the throne room. Apparently, they hadn’t been able to gain control.

Women and children rushed into the kitchen behind two more Guardsmen. Most of the children remained eerily quiet, but each time one of them made a sound, one of the women quickly hushed them.

Blood flowed down the side of one woman’s face.

Another guided her children across the kitchen, cradling her obviously broken arm against her body.

Why would Chayce have ordered an attack against women and children? She had to make sense of all of this, to think. But first she had to find a safe place to shelter the survivors. “How bad, Lucas?”

He let the door fall shut behind the last of the victims and strode toward her. “It’s bad. We’re under attack. An army of beasts has invaded the city and portions of the castle. Right now, we are still clear to evacuate parts of the castle. We have to hurry, though, Your Majesty.”

How many people lived in the city? She couldn’t remember. Was she supposed to sacrifice them all? “All right. Evacuate everyone to the human realm.”

“I’d love to. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

Noah hurried through the door followed by Payton carrying Hannah, and Kiara carrying Sadie.

Oh. Right. Noah had once been human and had died in the human realm. He could no more return there than could Payton. Supposedly. “Okay. Evacuate to the mountains. Let’s just get everyone out before it’s too late. We can figure out where to go later.”

Lucas waved the two guards forward.

They nodded and jogged toward the back door.

When they gave the go ahead, Lucas led everyone toward the door.

“Wait. I have to go to my room.” Mia turned and started back.

Ryleigh grabbed her arm, the flare of pain in her hand a stark reminder of the injury the savage had inflicted. “No way. We have to get out of here.”

Holding a hand up for everyone to stop, Lucas cracked the door and peered out.

“I may know a place we can go, but I need a book from my room.” Mia pulled her arm free.

“All right, let’s go then.”

Mia pinned her with a stare. “I’m going alone, Ryleigh. You have a responsibility to an entire kingdom now.”

“My responsibility to you will never change.”

Lucas pushed the door open wide and whispered for their group to stay low and against the wall as they entered the back courtyard.

The children remained unnaturally quiet, their eyes wide with confusion and fear as they followed Lucas’s instructions. An older girl lifted a younger one into her arms and hugged her tight. Silent tears streamed down the little girl’s face as they ducked low and filed out.

Mia lowered her voice to an urgent whisper. “You are my queen, and I respect you. You are my sister, and I love you. I appreciate that you’ve always protected me and taken care of me. But you babied me to death. Was that really for me? Or was it for you? To fill your need to keep me close, to avoid dealing with the pain and grief of losing those close to you.”

“Look, Mia—”

“I refuse to be your excuse to shirk your responsibility to thousands of Cymmeran citizens now. I am your closest advisor. I am Cymmera's new prophet. Elijah trained me to assume that role.”

She ripped her arm out of her sweatshirt, baring a tattoo that circled her bicep. A thin, intricately woven, tribal design, purple and lavender intertwined lines, similar to the one that had appeared on Ryleigh’s arm during Jackson’s Death Dealer ceremony, only instead of white flowers marking her as a queen, Mia’s tattoo held the deepest royal purple flowers. Perhaps marking her as a prophet? “Now… You have your responsibilities, and I have mine.” She started toward her room.

Shock held Ryleigh silent. Was Mia right? It didn’t matter. She didn’t have time for this right now, and right or wrong, Mia wasn’t roaming the castle alone while they were under attack. She started after her.

Survivors still streamed out the back door, their hushed whispers gaining urgency while they waited their turns to evacuate.

Darius Knight appeared behind Ryleigh and shoved a little boy into her arms. “I’ll go with her. Get everyone out of here.”

She shifted the boy’s weight to her uninjured side.

Darius reached Mia in a few long strides, took her arm, and leaned close to her ear.

“I’ll meet you by the dragon caves,” Mia yelled.

Letting Mia go was one of the hardest things Ryleigh had ever done, but she did let her go. No matter how strange Mia had been acting lately, she had to trust her. And she trusted Darius to protect her. They could sort the rest out later. As Mia and Darius disappeared, she wiped the little boy’s tears, held him closer, waited for the remaining survivors to exit the kitchen, and waved the two remaining guards forward. “Let’s go.”

They crossed the courtyard at the back of the castle and slid through the large iron gate undetected.

Black smoke billowed from one of the tower windows.

They descended the back side of the mountain before reaching the next mountain in the chain and starting up. The smaller children struggled to navigate the rough terrain. The adults, many of them injured during skirmishes in the castle, did their best to help, but their pace had begun to slow.

The little boy who’d struggled so wildly had finally settled down. He now trod beside the soldier who’d saved him, head down, shoulders slumped in defeat.

They had to find somewhere safe to rest.

The castle blocked any view of the mountainside below it that held the city of Cymmera, but smoke filled the sky in that direction, so she could only assume the worst.

Ryleigh slid and almost lost her footing, loose rocks tumbling down the mountain behind her. She clutched the little boy closer, biting back a scream as agony tore through her hand. Healing didn’t come automatically to her yet, and she couldn’t focus with everything going on. She’d managed to slow the flow of blood from her side a little, but if the lightheadedness was coming from the blood loss, she was going to have to try harder. She’d see what she could do once they reached the caves.

The boy slipped, and she hugged him tighter.

He whimpered and buried his head against her shoulder.

She didn’t know the child, but he couldn’t be more than two or three, and they had no idea where his parents were. She tried to reassure him he’d be safe, but mostly, he stayed quiet, only letting out an occasional soft cry when she squeezed him too tight.

The boy, he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, tell her his name, clung to her neck, practically choking her.

Savages stampeding on their heels spurred her to move faster than comfortable up the steep incline. Many of the others cast nervous glances over their shoulders. A few soldiers urged the civilians to move faster. Now way could they stop and give the kids a break.

They’d almost reached the dragon caves, but if the savages continued at their current pace, they’d probably overtake them before all of them made it to the caves. If they couldn’t make the caves, she’d have to try to find another escape route. But then how would Mia find them?

Besides, Mia specifically told her to go to the dragon caves. There might be an important reason for that. Jackson had always followed Elijah’s orders pretty blindly in Ryleigh’s opinion. If Mia really had taken Elijah’s place, a thought Ryleigh really couldn’t fathom at the moment, her instructions might be based on some knowledge only she possessed.

And where was Mia? She hadn’t returned to the group as far as Ryleigh knew. Neither had Darius, so she had to assume he was still protecting Mia. She refused to accept any other possibility.

“Here. Let me take him.” Noah pried the boy from her neck and lifted him into his arms. He grabbed Ryleigh’s arm and helped her climb over the edge of a slick rock formation. The higher they climbed, the more snow and ice coated the land.

“Is my entire army with us?” Though the group had stayed together, it was hard to keep track of who had escaped with them.

“Yes.” Noah climbed over the rocks behind her. “Our job is to protect the queen.” He waggled his eyebrows and shot her a grin. “Where you go, we go.”

She laughed and shook her head. His boyish charm seemed out of place under the circumstances but was a welcome distraction nonetheless.

Snorts and grunts from behind them sobered her quickly. “They sound awfully close.”

“I don’t think they’re as close as it seems. Most of your army is ahead of us, seeing to the safety of the women and children, but a line of Cymmeran Guardsmen escaped and are bringing up the rear. The savages will have to fight their way through that line before they can get to any innocent civilians. I haven’t heard any indication of a battle.”

“No, me neither.” Ryleigh climbed over the trunk of a fallen tree and scrambled onto a narrow ledge. She stood and stretched, her back sore from carrying the child, the gash in her side throbbing, then sat with her feet dangling over the edge and pulled the boy into her lap.

Better for Noah to have his hands free if they fell under attack. At least he had a weapon. And two working hands.

“Do you know how many we were able to get out?” She smoothed the little boy’s hair out of his face.

Noah knelt and checked him, avoiding Ryleigh’s gaze.

Several Cymmeran civilians dotted the mountainside below her, but most of those who’d escaped had gone before her and were now a little higher up the mountain than she’d made it. Her injuries and carrying the child had slowed her. “Noah?”

He frowned. “What happened to your hand?”

“A savage got me with a flail.” The constant throbbing in her hand was nothing compared to the agony in her side, but sharing that would serve no purpose.

He ran his fingers over the worst of the bruising. Soft light surrounded her hand, easing the stiffness, reducing the swelling.

She flinched at his touch, not because it hurt, but because it stirred feelings and memories of Jackson.

“I’m not very good at healing. Ranger taught me a little when…uh…”

Jackson.

What would happen to him when he returned to the castle? If he returned. If Chayce showed up so soon after the Death Dealers had left, he must have been absolutely certain they wouldn’t return. How had Chayce even known they’d gone? The last thing she needed right now was the possibility of another traitor in their midst.

She snatched her hand from Noah’s. “I asked how many got out.”

He took the child from her, climbed to his feet, slumped against a rock wall at their back, and finally met her gaze. “I don’t have anywhere near an exact count, but Tristan estimated less than a hundred.”

“A hun—how could that be?” It couldn’t be possible fewer than a hundred people had managed to escape. “What happened to the rest?”

“We don’t know. We saved as many as we could. Most of those we were able to evacuate had been in the castle.” He studied her, a touch of sadness in his big, brown eyes. He shook his head, and a lock of hair that had grown longer and shaggier than she’d ever seen it dropped across his face, hiding his expression in shadow. He’d always been too sensitive, even when they were still human. “The Guards were behind us. Savages were pouring in through portals from every direction. We stayed as long as we could, Ryleigh, but you have to understand, our allegiance is to you. We had to leave soon after you, make sure we could catch up to you, to protect those who were able to get out.”

She pushed his hair off his face. “It’s all right, Noah. I understand.”

He watched the others climbing ahead of them, his features lined with regret.

“Everyone has their role.” As Mia had not so gently reminded her. “You couldn’t send women and children into the mountains alone with no protection. Most didn’t even have time to grab weapons.”

His expression softened. “Come on. We have to go.”

She turned away from the pain in his eyes and resumed her climb. Still no sign of Mia and Darius. She probably shouldn’t have let Mia go. Or she should have gone with her. Of course, then the Queen’s Army would have been forced to stay, and the civilians they’d managed to save would have been sitting ducks as they tried to flee alone. At least she’d been able to offer them a direction. Whether or not it would turn out to be safe, she had no clue.

She worked to blank her mind and concentrate on the climb. The muscles in her back screamed as she pulled herself up and over another rocky ledge. A sharp rock gouged her injured side, and she bit back a cry.

This would have been so much easier if she could have taken Nahara or Kalayah and flown out. Of course, she couldn’t fit a hundred people on the back of one hound, no matter how big, or one dragon.

She opened and closed her hand, the stiffness interfering with her grip.

Cymmera was a barren land, icy, cold, and though trees still stood, they never bloomed. Underbrush had dried up and blown away centuries ago, soon after Jackson’s mother, Queen Dara, had died. Although ice and snow covering everything was amazingly beautiful, it made scaling the mountain extremely difficult, and her arms and legs were protesting.

She stood and brushed snow and dirt from the front of her sweatshirt and jeans. She reached for her sword before she remembered it had been lost in the battle with Chayce. She wouldn't have thought the empty scabbard hanging at her side would make her feel so naked, so defenseless. She should have kept the flail with her when she’d fled the throne room, couldn’t even remember where she’d lost it. Perhaps the span of peace had made her complacent. She should have paid more attention to Jackson’s warnings about remaining alert.

The first clashes of metal on metal reached her.

“Go, Ryleigh.” Noah gripped the back of her sweatshirt and propelled her onto the platform at the base of the dragon caves, then followed with the boy. “You have to decide where to go. There’s not much time.”

An inhuman scream punctuated his assessment.

Her people entered the cave, then huddled by the entrance, pushing the children behind them, trying to shelter them. Fear emanated from the group. They stared at her, waiting for her orders. Waiting for her to do something to save them.

The caves plunged deep into the mountainside, leading to a labyrinth of tunnels. They might be safe there for a little while, especially if the dragons returned, but Chayce knew every inch of the mountain maze, and he could certainly send his savages to cut them off and slaughter them. She started toward Tristan. “Tristan?”

He fell into step beside her. “Yes.”

“Put together a team and search the area around the backside of the caves.”

“Got it.” He jogged ahead of her.

“Ryleigh!” The fear in Mia’s cry stopped her short.

Nahara, one of Jackson’s giant hounds, flew toward her. Though she belonged to Jackson, Ryleigh had become closer and closer to her since she’d taken up riding her with Jackson while he flew on Nika.

The giant hound landed gracefully on the small platform and dropped to the ground with a whimper. Blood caked the cream colored fur on her left flank.

“Get Kiara!” Mia slid from Nahara and reached up.

Ryleigh yelled for someone to find the healer as she ran toward Mia. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

“No, not me. The pup.” She carefully pulled a small, black pup from Nahara’s back, then ran toward Ryleigh, cradling the puppy close to her. The back end of an arrow protruded from his side. Blood coated Mia’s arms and the front of her shirt.

“What happened? Where’s Nika and Darius?” No way would Darius have let Mia go alone if they were under attack. And Nika was not only overly protective of all his pups, guarding them and helping Nahara care for them, he was overly protective of his humans as well. He would have died defending Mia.

“Darius stayed behind with Nika to fight so we could get away.” She dropped to her knees and started to lay the puppy gently on the cold ground.

“Wait.” Ryleigh stripped off her sweatshirt, brushed some of the snow away, and spread her shirt on the ground. A chill prickled her bare arms for a second, but she quickly regulated her temperature. She wouldn’t be cold in the T-shirt, but it wouldn’t offer much protection if they had to climb higher. “Put him here.”

The arrow had entered the puppy’s side at an angle and come out his back. “He seems to be breathing okay.”

“Yes.” Mia lifted her gaze. Tears streaked down her cheeks. “When Nahara was flying away, he jumped up onto my chest. I got startled and leaned backward. If he hadn’t jumped just then, the arrow would have gone straight through my heart.” Her hand shook as she tangled her fingers in the puppy’s mane.

Ryleigh ran her fingers along his side, then up and over his back. When she didn’t find any evidence the arrow had hit the pup’s wing, she gently spread the silver-flecked, black wing open.

“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Mia clasped her hands together and rocked back and forth, her teeth chattering.

“I don’t know, but it didn’t go through the wing, so I think that’s good.”

Tatiana Storm rushed to their side. “We’re trying to find Kiara.” She ran a hand over the pup’s head. “It’s a bit chaotic at the moment. We’re not even sure who got out and who didn’t.”

“I saw Kiara leave the kitchen ahead of me.”

Tatiana nodded. “Okay, good. What happened?”

Mia relayed the tale again.

Running her fingers around the edge of the hole, Tatiana studied the wound. “Hounds are very intuitive. Some even say precognitive. It’s one of the reasons so many Cymmerans keep them as pets. They make extremely efficient guardians.” She pulled a knife from her boot and cut the head from the arrow, then slid the rest free. “And they never hesitate to defend their owners, even at risk to themselves.”

“But I don’t understand. This pup isn’t mine.”

“He is now.” Tatiana placed a hand over Mia’s and frowned. “You’re cold. Your lips are blue, and your hands are like ice. Are you having trouble regulating your temperature?”

“No. Well, not really too much.” She shifted the pup so his head lay in her lap as she stroked his silky ears. “Elijah said it would be hard for a little while.”

“Have you seen Elijah? No one seems to know if he got out.”

Mia lowered her head, cradled the pup against her, and sobbed.

“He—” The words caught in Ryleigh’s throat, finally emerging in a hoarse whisper. “He didn’t.”

Tatiana tilted her head and pinned her with a glare. “Excuse me?”

Ryleigh sucked in a deep breath and tried again. “He didn’t. Get out, I mean. He was killed in the throne room.”

She jumped up. “You left him? We have to go back.” She started back toward the cave opening. “He can be saved if—”

“No.” Mia laid the pup on the sweatshirt, rose, ran after Tatiana, and grabbed her arm. “He burst into flames. He couldn’t be saved. He knew it was going to happen and has been training me to take his place.”

Tears shimmered in Tatiana’s huge green eyes. She wiped the pup’s blood from her hands onto her jeans, then used her wrist to push back some of the blond strands that had escaped the long braid that always hung down her back. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Very well.” Not one tear fell as Tatiana nodded and turned away. “I’ll go find Kiara.”

Ryleigh couldn’t help a spark of admiration.

“There’s no time.” Noah strode toward them. “Come on. We have to get out of here. The Guardsmen can’t hold them back any longer. Lucas is getting everyone together, but he wants to know what you want to do, head farther up the mountain or go into the caves?” He spotted the pup lying on the ground. “Ah, man.” He lifted him into his arms, careful to avoid the wound in his side. “Go.” He gestured toward the cave entrance where the crowd gathered, all glancing between Ryleigh and the nearing battle sounds.

All these people, yet not even a fraction of the kingdom she was responsible for, looked to her for answers.

She pitched her voice low so only Tatiana, Mia, and Noah would hear. “If we continue up the mountain, we are sure to lose at least a few, probably children, as the terrain becomes harsher and steeper. If Chayce is smart, he’ll assume we’ll take them into the caves. There’s probably an ambush waiting.”

Though most Cymmeran women, and even the older children, were well trained in battle, few of them were armed. A confrontation in the tunnels with Chayce's beasts would certainly end in a massacre.

“There may be another way.” Mia lifted her sweatshirt and pulled a book from the waistband of her jeans. She opened it and flipped through the brittle pages. “This is what I went back for. Elijah foresaw the attack on the castle. He knew some would escape.”

Noah glanced down the mountain. “There’s no time—”

“I only need a few seconds.” She ran her finger along a page. “Elijah found an uncharted realm just…beneath, for lack of a better word, Cymmera. He said it’s closest to Cymmera right here, at the base of the dragon caves. It’s extremely unlikely Chayce, or anyone else, would know about it. If I can open a portal, we can hide everyone there.”

Tatiana shook her head. “That’s crazy. We have no way to know what lies in wait in an uncharted realm.”

Grunts, snorts, and clashing swords echoed up the mountainside.

Noah shrugged. “We know what waits here.”

Ryleigh asked, “Did Elijah suggest you try it?”

“He didn’t say whether we should go there or not, simply offered it as a viable option if we got into trouble.”

“Well, we are definitely in trouble, and Elijah didn’t say anything simply. If he mentioned it, he had good reason.” She was going to have to make a choice, and she didn’t have time to weigh her options. “Okay. Tatiana and Noah, start moving everyone around the cave and toward the back side of the mountain, and take Nahara and the pups with you, then wait for me to signal. If Mia can open the portal, we’ll enter the new realm. If not, we’ll head up the mountain.”

They followed her orders immediately, without question.

She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, grateful or scared. “You know what I find weird?”

“Seriously?” Mia stared at her and lifted a brow.

“Okay, aside from the…well, pretty much everything. Chayce entered the throne room alone with his savages. Where was Thaddeus?”

“Hmmm. From what I understand, Thaddeus has been at his side since he fled Cymmera.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” When they’d confronted Chayce last, Thaddeus had been practically glued to his hip. If Thaddeus was lying in wait somewhere, they were all dead. Or worse. “Could he know about the new realm?”

Mia shifted. “I suppose anything is possible, but Elijah was very specific about one thing when he passed his knowledge on to me. No matter what I see, no matter what I think I might know, only relay the information that’s absolutely needed at any given time. Mistakes in this business can be costly.” A shiver tore through her.

“All right.” For now. “See what you can do.”

Mia stared at the book for what seemed like forever, then closed her eyes.

Savages poured onto the platform. The tempo of their grunts and snorts increased as they surged closer.

With a gut-wrenching scream, a Cymmeran Guardsman plunged over the cliff and tumbled down the mountain.

A portal opened, barely an opening at all.

The stench of decay accompanied the savages surging forward.

Not yet big enough for the smallest child, the portal kicked up wicked hot wind, howling louder with each inch the portal grew.

Her soldiers pulled back.

“Come on, Mia.”

“I’m trying.”

Another Cymmeran soldier fell.

Ryleigh started toward him. She had to try to heal him.

A savage fell on him before she even got close. He grinned, a mouthful of crooked, rotted teeth covered in blood.

She raised her voice above the howling wind. “Now, Mia.”

Mia raised her arms above her head, her entire body trembling with the strain of trying to tear the portal open.

The portal wavered, then jerked open a little more.

The Queen’s Army lined the edge of the plateau, weapons ready.

Tatiana stood with them.

Three savages scaled the rocks and lurched onto the platform where her soldiers stood.

Tristan and Jimmy sent them flying back over the edge.

More scrambled up behind them.

Ryleigh searched the platform. There had to be something she could use as a weapon.

“I’ve got it,” Mia cried.

The portal opened just enough for an adult to squeeze through. It would have to be good enough.

“Wait, Mia.” She grabbed her arm and yelled over the raging wind. “How will Jackson find us?”

Mia shook her head. “He won’t.” With a wave toward the others to follow, she started into the opening.

Ryleigh pulled her back. She wasn’t sending Mia, or any other unarmed civilian, into an uncharted realm. Especially with Thaddeus on the loose. Yet this was their only chance of escape. “Can you hold it open?”

“I think so, but I’m not sure how long.” Violent tremors shook her body, and a steady stream of blood flowed from her nose.

The Queen’s Army was already engaged with savages near the edge of the plateau. The enemy had obviously penetrated the line of Guardsmen.

Ryleigh grabbed a fallen savage’s flail and leaped over his body. She grabbed Lucas’s arm.

He spun on her.

She took a step back and gestured toward the wavering portal. “Take one soldier and go.”

He nodded, grabbed the nearest Guardsman, and ran toward the portal.

Ryleigh covered them, taking on two savages to allow them time to escape. The three-headed flail was heavier than she was used to, and it slowed her swing. She ducked to avoid a savage’s sword.

Noah planted his foot against the savage’s gut and shoved him backward over the cliff. “Go, Ryleigh.”

Another Cymmeran soldier fell.

Ryleigh backed off. They couldn’t wait any longer. She could only hope they’d bought Lucas enough time to secure the portal and whatever lay on the other side. She signaled to the waiting civilians.

Trying to avoid the worst of the battle, they bolted toward the portal. A few of the women had broken off large branches and wielded them against any savages that broke through the line of soldiers. Others hefted large rocks, hurling them at savages who seemed to be gaining the upper hand against their soldiers.

Unarmed women fled with the children, shielding them from the carnage as best they could.

A child screamed.

Ryleigh spun.

A woman struggled against a savage’s hold while trying to keep the child out of his grasp.

Running toward them, Ryleigh heaved the flail back, then rounded and nailed him square in the chest, driving him back.

He came again.

Another joined him.

“Get out of here. Faster.” She swung again. She had to find a lighter weapon.

Noah lunged at the savage, driving his sword deep.

“Here.” Tatiana shoved a sword into Ryleigh’s hand.

After discarding the flail, she hefted the sword and rounded on another savage.

A grunt from above her startled her, and she jumped back.

A savage dove from a ledge above the cave.

“Noah,” Ryleigh screamed.

The savage landed on him, knocking him to the ground.

A second savage pounced.

Ryleigh lost sight of Noah beneath the two savages. She plunged her sword into one of them and shoved him back off Noah.

Tatiana went after the other.

Tristan and Jimmy intercepted the savage.

Ryleigh left him to them and ran to Noah. She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the portal. The last of the civilians had just gone through. The edges of the portal wavered, faltered, and started to close. “Pull back.”

She gestured the remaining soldiers toward the portal. She had to get them through before Mia lost control.

Tristan and Jimmy continued to fight.

“Pull back. Now,” she screamed.

Tatiana grabbed Noah’s other arm, and together they dragged him toward the portal.

Noah’s eyes popped open, and he scrambled back, trying to gain his feet.

Wind from the closing portal battered them.

Before he could get his balance and try to rejoin the fight, Ryleigh shoved him through the portal. Getting them all to safety was all that mattered. She’d deal with the consequences later.

Tatiana grinned and shook her head, then dove through behind him. The portal wavered again and shrank.

Ryleigh started toward Tristan.

He waved her back as he and Jimmy finally retreated and ran toward her. “Go. We’re right behind you.”

Savages surged onto the plateau. More jumped from the rocky ledges above the caves.

The portal narrowed.

The instant Jimmy and Tristan reached her, knowing they’d never go through before her, she plunged into the portal.

* * * *

Jackson guided Ophidian to avoid an army of creatures pouring from the remnants of the mountainside, barreling through the debris. Enormous beasts, on two legs, their skin pale gray and covered in ice, tufts of hair sticking out randomly from their heads and faces.

One jumped up, grabbed Dakota’s dragon by the wing, and flung him and his rider across the valley into what was left of the opposite mountain face.

Ophidian swung around, then dove toward them.

As they hurtled toward the creatures still freeing themselves from the mountainside, Jackson tore the bow from his back and nocked an arrow. His arrow found its mark in the center of the creature’s chest but bounced off instead of going through its heart.

It kept coming.

He pulled up and waved the others off. Swinging around, he readied another shot. In a move that had worked against the savages in the past, he signaled Ophidian to shoot a stream of fire, then launched his arrow through the flames. It caught fire and flew into a creature, melting a path through the thick ice covering its chest. It took two more arrows to fell the giant monster.

Using the dragon-fire, the Death Dealers eliminated dozens of the creatures, leaving a path of scorched bodies littering the mountainside.

Confident the others could finish the job, Jackson guided Ophidian toward Dakota. He leaped from his back before he landed and ran toward the dragon crumpled in the snow.

“I’m all right, but Draco’s wing is torn.” Dakota crouched behind the dragon, warm orange light emanating from his hands as he smoothed them over the hole in Draco’s wing.

Relieved to find his friend unharmed, Jackson patted his shoulder and fell to his knees beside him. “How bad?”

“Bad enough.” He looked up, blood trickling from a gash above his right eye, his teeth clenched. “I shouldn’t have gotten so close.”

“Not your fault. Just bad luck you were there when they burst from the mountain.” He added his healing touch to Dakota’s, pouring white light along the edges of the tear, concentrating on healing the wound with a clean seam.

At least when the mountain shattered, the earthquake had ended.

“What were those things?”

“I have no idea, but we’ll investigate once Draco’s all right.”

“Jackson,” Ranger called. He landed his dragon and ran to them. “I think we got them all. Some of the prisoners were killed by debris, but we freed those who weren’t.”

“Did you get any answers?”

“Not really. They were pretty shaken.” Ranger shrugged. “They didn’t seem to know much. They were taken from the human realm and put to work enlarging the opening in the mountain.”

Men who’d lived in the human realm, suddenly snatched from their existence and thrown into the harsh realities of another realm, complete with sorcerers, monsters, and fire-breathing dragons.

“All right.” He would assume responsibility for those men. He couldn’t very well leave them out there to fend for themselves, but he couldn’t take strangers back to Cymmera. He had enough traitors in Cymmera without adding the possibility of more. Someone would have to explain the situation to them and offer them the opportunity to pledge allegiance and become citizens. His people were in charge of Argonas at the moment. He’d have to trust them to take care of it. “Choose four Death Dealers to take the prisoners to Argonas and leave them at the castle.”

“Should they return after?”

Elijah had told him to go to the highest peak, yet a large chunk had been carved out of the shattered mountain. Had Thaddeus foreseen Jackson’s mission and changed the course of history? If Thaddeus had interfered, Elijah’s visions could be irrelevant now.

Something gnawed at his gut. It could be the effects of the snow. Despite his best efforts, some had gotten into his mouth. Or it could be something else. The urgency to return to Cymmera hit him hard. “No. Have them return to Cymmera. We’ll clean up here, then figure out what to do, but I don’t want them coming back out here if we’re gone. Send Vaughn to help Dakota.”

“Yes, sir.” He jogged toward the others.

Jackson squeezed Dakota’s shoulder. “I’m going to leave Vaughn to help heal Draco. I want you two ready to go as soon as I get back.”

“Where are you going?”

The smoldering remains of the camp Thaddeus had been running lay in ruins across the mountain. “To figure out what’s going on.”

Leaving Dakota and Vaughn, Jackson and the remaining Death Dealers returned to the rubble filled clearing. They left the dragons outside the clearing, where they could be summoned if needed but be out of harm’s way. Dragons weren’t as easily healed as other creatures, and he didn’t want any more injured.

“What do you think it is?” Ranger stood beside him, hand resting on the sword sheathed at his side.

He had no clue. “Let’s explore the cave. With any luck at all, we’ll find Thaddeus and Chayce holed up in there.”

He doubted it, but he had to check. When he’d picked his way over the last of the debris, he unsheathed his sword and approached the gaping hole the explosion had torn in the mountain. If there’d been a discernable path leading through the mountain, it had been destroyed or covered by rubble. He climbed a pile of rocks partially blocking their way.

No light penetrated the dank cavern, and it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the complete blackness. His feet tingled, numb from the cold. As he crept through the dark, sword ready, his stomach lurched, bile surging up the back of his throat. He didn’t think he’d swallowed enough snow to make him sick, but the farther he descended into the mountain, the more his stomach churned.

A face hovered in front of him. The grotesque frozen mask of one of the ice creatures.

He sheathed his sword and grabbed his bow, nocking an arrow as he took aim at the creature’s head.

The monster remained frozen in place, seemingly suspended in the darkness.

No, not suspended.

The tunnel curved away from the wall where the creature was encased in a thick block of ice.

Jackson kept his back against the opposite wall as he tried to make sense of what they’d uncovered.

A long row of ice-encased creatures, some fully formed, others only partially so.

“What do you think?”

Jackson jumped, startled by Ranger’s whisper against his ear. He shook his head. He had no idea what to think.

Something was wrong. He focused on the sounds around him. The harsh breaths of the other Death Dealers, the scrape of a boot against a rock, the soft brush of fabric as someone shifted position.

A low hum vibrated beneath his feet. Definitely not mechanical, but not natural, either. Magic! “Destroy it all.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Destroy it. Everything.” He strode toward the hole they’d entered. “Burn it. Now.”

“Jackson.”

He kept walking.

Ranger jogged to catch up. “You can’t be serious. We don’t even know what it is.”

“Can’t you feel it?” Tendrils of evil slid through his mind, visions of death and destruction bombarded him. “Whatever this is”—he gestured at the space surrounding them—“it’s not natural.”

“Are you sure?”

His gut cramped. The intensity of the need to flee, to escape the stench of death, beat at him. “Positive. Burn it to the ground. All of it.”

Ranger let it drop as they returned for the dragons. Jackson had no doubt he’d follow the orders, and he didn’t hold it against him for asking questions. Ranger was a good man, a good soldier, and a good friend.

Using the dragon-fire, they leveled the entire compound, spraying flames throughout the underground chambers, destroying everything in their path.

He needed to speak with Elijah. Thaddeus had become too powerful, and he’d obviously embraced some kind of dark magic. They had to stop him. Now. The sudden certainty Thaddeus posed more of a threat than Chayce started as a small niggle at the back of his mind. It quickly flared to a pressing urgency, an intense need to return to Cymmera. Whatever army Thaddeus was creating beneath the mountain could never be unleashed.

With the camp destroyed, he returned to Dakota.

Ophidian perched on a protruding section of boulders.

Jackson climbed down and jogged toward his partner. “How’s Draco?”

“He’s good to go. Not perfect, but he can fly back to Cymmera. Then I’ll get him a healer.”

“Good.” Indecision beat at him.

Elijah had been so specific about when to open the scroll, but what if he hadn’t predicted Thaddeus’s role? And what if he had? A large chunk of the mountain had been destroyed. A good portion of land lay burning and in ruins. The fires would eventually burn themselves out. The miles and miles of ice, snow, and water beneath the frozen surface of the lake would keep them from spreading to civilization.

He slid into a crevice in the side of the mountain, took the scroll from his satchel, and unrolled it. He suppressed the guilt. “I’m sorry, Elijah.”

Ranger and Dakota hunched over facing him, doing their best to block the wind from tearing the scroll from his grasp.

He unrolled it a little at a time, keeping a firm grip on the rolled portions, blocking as much of the wind as possible with his back, and read.

My Dearest Son,

I have been deeply honored to serve Cymmera these past centuries, interpreting the sights I am gifted with to the best of my ability in order to protect my kingdom. For the first time in my existence, I have manipulated events in an attempt to alter the future, hoping to avoid the visions that have haunted me of late. Forgive me.

“Oh, Elijah. What have you done?” Jackson quickly unrolled another section of the note.

You are a son to me, Jackson. And, as any parent would protect their child, I have done my best to protect you. I’ve done all I can to change your destiny, to alter your fate as I saw it play out in my visions again and again. A fate I could not accept. I have done all I can to give you a chance to succeed. I only hope in removing you from harm’s way, I have not failed you. Be well, my son. Until we meet again.

“No. No, no, no!” The bitter wind ripped the scream from his throat and carried it through the mountains. “What have you done, Elijah?” Jackson crumpled the scroll and pressed his clenched fist to his head. He had to get back. Now.

“What’s wrong?” Dakota’s teeth chattered in the frigid air. His lips had already turned blue.

Ranger didn’t look much better as he huddled shivering, his goatee and long, dark hair encased in ice.

He had to get them out of there. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”