The pressure grew stronger inside him as he moved down the drafty passage. He didn’t fear it anymore. The feeling was a part of him, as familiar as the fit of his clothes or the weight of his knife.
The shadow warriors struck again at the intersection of two hallways. The sword-staff slashed back and forth, lightning-quick, blocking his way. Caim started to meet the attack, but Kit’s sudden cry alerted him to the second threat. He fell to his chest and rolled as twin blades cut the air above him. Caim regained his footing with his back to a wall. Kit floated over his attackers’ cowled heads, then flew up through the ceiling. The shadow warriors came at him side by side, eerie twins in matching suits of black armor. The sword shook in his fist. Yes, I agree.
Caim catapulted himself at his foes. The shadow warriors split apart, smooth as watered silk. Caim feinted at the knife wielder on his right, then pivoted and blocked a thrust from the sword staff. He used his suete to tie up the longer weapon long enough for him to dart underneath. The black sword dipped under the warrior’s breastplate and met ebon mail underneath. Caim shoved harder, extending himself to his full length, knowing he presented a prime target to the foe at his rear. The blade’s point bit into black steel links.
And the staff wielder leaned back, disappearing into a cloud of shadows.
Biting back his disappointment, Caim threw himself forward. Not fast enough. Two lines of blazing fire cut across his lower back. He rolled and came up on his feet and deflected a black knife inches from his throat. The second blade came in low. Caim kicked it away and slashed high. The shadow warrior ducked under with both blades whirling. Just what I would’ve done.
Caim should have retreated and regrouped. He was tiring fast, and defensive actions would only preserve him for so long. Instead, he charged. Black knives cut into his arms and shoulders. He ignored the stinging cuts, hooking his sword arm around the warrior’s wrist and pulling him closer. His suete slashed upward, not at the adamant black armor, but across the eye slit of his enemy’s helmet.
The shadow warrior lurched backward, tearing free of his hold, but Caim jumped after him. As a dark portal opened behind his foe, he lunged. Hardened mail burst open, and his sword bit into flesh. Dark blood bubbled forth. Caim didn’t pull up. He kept pushing and sent both of them stumbling through the gateway together.
Into darkness they went, as the portal snapped shut.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Beams of light swung back and forth as the ground pitched beneath Josey’s feet. Colliding with the tunnel wall, she clung to the stone with both hands as chunks of the ceiling rained down on the men in front of her. Hubert fell against her, his lantern almost bashing her in the head, and they tumbled to the ground. Huddled beneath him, she shook with the fear that threatened to overwhelm her. The cave-in seemed to last for several minutes as cries of pain were cut off by the crash of falling stone, and then…
Silence.
Hubert crawled off her, holding his elbow. Josey coughed as she sat up.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
She glanced at the ceiling, wondering why the river hadn’t deluged the tunnel, but it looked like only a portion of the rock above their heads had fallen. Then she saw the heap of dirt and rubble filling the passageway. Hirsch and Captain Drathan had been walking just a few paces in front of her, along with Sergeant Merts and her guardsmen. Now they were gone. Josey crawled to the rock pile. Shards of stone ran between her fingers as she started to dig. They might still be alive underneath, trapped in a pocket of air.
Hubert’s hand settled on her shoulder. Josey tried to shake him off, but he pulled her away. He was saying something, but it took a moment to sink in.
“They’re gone, Josey. They’re all gone.”
She leaned against him as heavy sobs shook her body. More people dead, because of her. Life had been so simple once; she longed for those days with a thirst like she’d never known. Wiping her eyes, she stood up straight. They weren’t out of this yet.
One lantern remained, sitting upright on the floor. A minor blessing. She picked it up as Volek climbed to his feet. The major’s armor was dusty and pocked with dents, but he seemed unhurt. Another piece of luck, but she would have traded a score of Crimson Tigers to have Hirsch back.
“All right, gentlemen.” She forced her voice to steadiness. “This is what we’re going to do. We’re heading back to the last fork and taking the other tunnel. We’ll keep working our way back until we find the other side of this blockage.”
Hubert glanced at the major. “Majesty, what if there is no way around?”
“There is. And we’re going to find it.”
Volek picked up his sword and brushed the dirt from its guard. Hubert nodded with a sigh of resignation.
The major led them back down the tunnel. The silence seemed more oppressive without the others, the darkness more ominous. Josey couldn’t keep herself from glancing over her shoulder every few steps. The emptiness behind her pulsed like a living thing. At any moment she expected an ambush.
When they reached the split, the major turned into the unexplored branch, but Hubert drew Josey aside with a glance. His left arm was pressed against his side.
“Majesty, I believe we should leave. We can return later with more-”
“No. We are going to find the others, and then we’ll all leave together.”
His eyes searched her face. “They’re dead. No one could have survived.”
“We’re going to make sure, Hubert. That’s the least we can do.”
With a small nod, he followed after the major. Josey quickened her pace to keep up. Major Volek waited at the next fork. Josey pointed to the right-hand tunnel, hoping it led in the right direction.
After a few dozen paces, Josey caught a whiff of an unpleasant odor, faint at first, but it grew fouler the farther they walked. Wrapped up in her thoughts, Josey didn’t notice Major Volek had stopped until she and Hubert came up beside him at the entrance of a long cavern. The floor sloped away from the entrance, its contours smoothed as if by the passage of countless feet. She looked down where the major’s gaze had settled.
Two bodies lay at their feet, a woman and a young boy. If not for their pale waxen skin and perfect rigidity, they might have been sleeping, but Josey knew they were dead at first glance.
When did I become an expert on death? Is this Caim’s doing, or the price for wearing the crown?
The stench was overpowering. Josey held a sleeve across her face and breathed through her mouth as she looked deeper into the cavern. Horror crawled up her throat at the sight of more bodies. Scores of them. Men and women, many of them stripped nude, their limbs tangled together like a jumble of discarded dolls. Her insides quivered at the sight. So many people. My people.
Hubert bent down over the nearest corpse. “This must be the assassin’s larder.”
Feeling like she was observing from miles away, Josey watched Hubert inspect the body of a young woman. Long strands of brassy hair lay tangled around her slender neck. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen or fourteen, still in the bloom of youth. Scraps of a red dress clung to her torso. Ragged gashes shone against the alabaster of her throat.
Major Volek gestured with his sword. “We should keep moving.”
Josey started to agree, but then Hubert lifted the girl’s hands. They were bound with rope, as were her feet. He turned the girl’s head to the side. A ghastly mark had been seared into her cheek. Josey knew the mark-a rounded upside-down teardrop. The demon’s horn. A cold spot formed in Josey’s chest.
Hubert fingered the red fabric. “She was a whore.”
Josey tried to imagine what the girl’s life must have been like to sell her body at such a tender age, and then to be marked like livestock and murdered in this fashion. It was unbearable.
“How did she come to be down here?” she asked, more to herself than anyone else.
Hubert stood up. “Exile is still a common punishment for those convicted by the Church’s magistrates. Perhaps the assassin hunts outside the city and brings his victims back here to feed.”
Josey took off her cloak and draped it over the girl’s corpse. “From this day on, no citizen of my realm shall be punished by the canonical courts without the crown’s consent.”
Hubert nodded, but his eyes were deep in thought. The major grunted. Holding up the lantern, Josey walked
