37
Yélsérk, Hungary, the pit of the Fyre Serpénte
Day 30
Prize: The Sworne Blade of Honorius, to win
I need your help,' Sebastian had said to Nikolai after learning that tonight was the full moon. That was all it had taken to arrange every step of transportation.
'I can go with you,' Nikolai had offered. 'Myst is at Val Hall today.' His tone grew low. 'They couldn't find Kaderin, and they all are... gathering.'
'You need to be there if Myst returns. Besides, it's just me against the Scot and he's weakened. I can handle this.'
Just after Sebastian had chained Kaderin up, he'd traced to Riora's temple. She was surprisingly indifferent about Sebastian competing in Kaderin's stead. In fact, she was more put out that he would no longer be her knight, and hers alone. But she'd agreed.
When he'd traced back to London, a car had been waiting outside the flat to take him to a private airport. Then there was a jet to Hungary. It was still dark when Sebastian landed a mere two and a half hours later...
The truck that would take him to the pit had just arrived, earlier than scheduled, so Sebastian decided to take five minutes to check on Kaderin. He would reassure her that Riora had agreed to him competing—and convince her that he could do this.
He traced to London. To find the bed was empty and the chains broken. She was gone...
When he traced directly to her, he appeared at the edge of a chamber of fire.
The cavern that housed it was as large as an auditorium, and in the center was a roiling pit of lava. Fire wisped into the air, dissipating into black smoke. Rocks crumbled down the sides into the lava, bubbling up smaller and smaller until they disappeared.
Where in the hell is she?
Stretched above the pit was a metal cable as thin as filament that was embedded into a sheer rock face. He couldn't see where it would lead—
Kaderin appeared from the other side of the chamber, wasting no time, hopping up to the side of the pit, testing the cable with a pointed toe. When she saw him nearing, her eyes narrowed with fury. 'Get the hell away from me! Enough! I need this, Bastian. I have to have it.'
Palms raised, he said slowly, 'Let me get it for you.'
'I've won the Hie five times before. I can do this!' She hurried onto the wire—it burned her shoes.
'Goddamn it, I'll trace you.'
'To where?' she said over her shoulder. 'The rock's solid. It may be that you have to walk the cable to spy out another entrance below or scan for it in the ceiling.' She paused and quirked an eyebrow. 'Walking this won't be a problem.'
He traced to her, determined to take her from this place, but she dodged him, sending him back to the same spot empty-handed.
'Bloody stop it!' she shrieked, charging farther out on the wire. 'I can walk this blind! On my hands!' In an instant, he traced once more, but again she ducked, eluding him.
A lash of fire whipped up just behind her. Even with her speed, she scarcely escaped it—and him, as he traced once more. No key was this valuable—not worth the life of an immortal.
Something bubbled up from the lava beneath her.
A true monster, a being of fire shaped like a giant snake. The Fyre Serpénte. The main part of its body lay beneath the surface of the lava, its tail and head rising above. The lash of fire actually had been part of its long tail, and it struck again just as Sebastian traced.
Kaderin twisted and lunged forward. Untouched.
He yelled, 'Stay fucking still!'
But the fire wanted its due.
When it roared spitting balls of flame, it rocked the entire cavern. Boulders toppled over, plummeting everywhere. Fighting to reach her, Sebastian dodged and traced, but the ceiling rained them. One dropped onto his right arm, crushing it almost all the way up to his shoulder; he bellowed with pain and fury. She was barely staying balanced in the shaking chamber—
A boulder hit the center of the cable, and it snapped with a deafening twang. She dove backward, twisting in the air for the swinging line. He couldn't see from where he was... had no idea if she caught it.
He traced. Nothing. Body straining with effort. He was trapped, but almost close enough to reach the side of the pit. He lunged forward, tearing sinew and skin. Another frantic lunge, with a good, rewarding rip.
He finally reached it, and was able to see down. She had a hold on the cable with both hands and was deftly climbing up. With a groan of relief, he wound it around his left wrist for a better grip.
'Hold on, Katja! I've got you—'
The serpent slithered its tail up around her leg. She bit back a scream as the fire hissed against her skin, branding it. The thing was dragging her down.
Trapped as he was, he couldn't use his legs to pull. Couldn't put his back into the effort.
Her sweating body writhed in pain. She still clung to the filament, now red with blood from her ruined palms slipping down.
If he could just lose his arm, he might have a chance...
As he wrenched back with the cable and away from the boulder, he saw her studying the situation, her gaze darting over his trapped arm, then down at the fire. When she turned back, her eyes were glinting. She swallowed, gazing up at him.
A calm seemed to wash over her.
His gut tightened with dread. She couldn't be considering... He tore every muscle in his body to wrest her from its grip, bellowing with the effort.
'Bastian.' He heard her perfectly over the wails of the serpent, the bubbling, popping lava, and his own heart thundering.
'No... no!' he roared. 'Don't you even think it, goddamn you—'
'I'm going to let go now,' she murmured. Her eyes were clear, lucid.
'Just give me fucking time! The prediction doesn't have to be!' He somehow pulled harder, snatching the cable up with his left arm and then catching it lower down, but the serpent hissed and seized her higher on her torso. Kaderin gritted her teeth against the pain.
Can't beat it like this. In a frenzy, he lunged sideways, fighting to separate his arm from his body.
'I know where the blade is,' Kaderin said. 'Below the cable bolt on that wall. Fifteen feet down, forty degrees to the left.' Tears tracked from her eyes. 'There's a cave under an overhang—I could only see it from here.'
'Don't do this! Ah, God, please!... Don't—'
'Come back for me. So I can go back for them.'
Eyes riveted to his, she let go. The serpent snatched her down.
The fire consumed her.
38
The lights of Val Hall flared sharply, then guttered out.
Lightning slashed the sky, and thunder rattled the darkened manor so hard the old house groaned violently. Myst dropped to her knees just as Nïx's eyes went wild and her hands fisted in her hair. Emma wept.
When Regin shrieked, the windows burst, spewing shards, until even the wraiths fled. As though a bomb had hit, glass shattered in a radius outward from the manor, again and again, in successive waves for miles.
