Egar tossed the heart onto the ground, then stepped toward the second man.
“No!” I gasped, but I still couldn’t move.
Cast away your fear, a voice said in my mind.
At first I thought I had imagined it, but then it spoke again. Your fear feeds the creature’s magic. Cast it aside.
I closed my eyes, trying to push away my fear, then a wet sound hit my ears. I opened my eyes to find Egar had killed the second man the same way as the first. He stepped toward Steifan, watching me with a cruel smile. “I think you will tell me what I want to know now.” He extended one clawed, bloody hand toward Steifan’s chest.
I chanted Ryllae’s words over and over again in my head, but beneath them were my own words, or maybe they came from the Seeing Sword. I am not afraid.
The words melded in my mind, the ancient words giving strength to the new, which were no less powerful.
Slowly, I reached one trembling hand to my sword. The moment my fingers closed around the hilt, it gave me strength. I drew it, facing the Nattmara. “Touch him and you die.”
Egar laughed, stepping away from Steifan. “Do you truly believe you have the strength of will to best me? I have proven time and again that I can crush your mind with a single thought.”
My confidence wavered, and fear came crashing through. My grip loosened on my sword hilt.
“I am not afraid,” I spoke out loud, echoing my sword’s voice in my mind.
My words wiped the grin from Egar’s face. “You will bring me to the Sidhe. She cannot hide forever.”
So he knew what Ryllae was. I tightened my grip on my sword and took a step toward him. “She will not have to hide once you are dead.”
Egar licked lips thinner than they were just a moment before. His face elongated, making room for rows of pin-sharp teeth. He clicked his long claws together, then charged at me.
My lingering fear fell away as long-honed battle instinct kicked in. All that I knew were his movements and mine. I swung my sword, slashing across his belly.
He reared away with an unearthly shriek, clutching at the deep gash.
I advanced, sword at the ready.
He staggered away from me, his chest heaving, clawed hands gripping at his wound. His words came out warped by long teeth, “Once I find the Sidhe, I will come for you.”
He stumbled toward the doorway.
I charged after him, but his glamour hit me like a war horse, making my mind go momentarily black. When I recovered my senses, he was gone.
Trembling, I turned to Steifan.
He blinked a few times, looked down at the two dead men, then back to me. “What in the Light just happened, Lyss?”
I fell to my knees, maintaining my grip on my sword. Without its help, I would have been dead. “The Nattmara. We cannot let him find Ryllae. If he drinks her blood, he will kill us all.”
Sensing another presence, I looked back to the doorway to find Asher standing there. “Took you long enough,” I muttered, feeling like I might be sick.
He stepped into the room, taking in the scene. He was the only one of us not covered in blood. Steifan had the worst of it. He’d been standing close to the two men when they were killed.
Asher offered me a hand up. “What happened here?”
I ignored his hand and stood on my own. “We figured out what has been happening to the missing people. They are being sold to vampires for blood. We followed the two men bringing the girl down here, then the Nattmara came.”
Asher looked me over, lingering on the blood staining my shirt and cloak. “And the dead vampire? He was here to buy the girl?”
I nodded, then frowned, remembering the vampire’s words. “He said he had heard of me, and that he couldn’t kill me because I belong to another ancient. He tried to run.”
Asher’s expression gave nothing away. “He surrendered, and you killed him as he fled.”
If he wanted an apology, he wasn’t going to get one from me. “He was buying this girl. He would have kept her like a slave.”
“I did not ask for justification.”
I sighed, feeling like my knees were about to give out. I had just faced the Nattmara, and here we were discussing a vampire’s death. “You may not have asked for justification, but you wanted me to know that you disapproved. Well, I know it, and I stand by what I did.”
Asher lowered his chin, draping his white hair across his high cheekbones. “I would expect no less from you.”
There were one-hundred different ways to interpret his words, so I didn’t try. I turned to Steifan as he retrieved his fallen sword and sheathed it. “Can you carry the girl? I want to get out of here before Egar decides to come back.”
Steifan nodded, then knelt by the cage, gently pulling the unconscious girl into his arms.
I was ready to go, but Asher was still looking at the two dead men.
“Hungry?” I asked, then instantly regretted it. I had used all of my energy breaking the Nattmara’s glamour. I was getting cranky.
“The Nattmara killed them where they stood,” he observed, ignoring my foulness. “They did not struggle.” He looked to me. “His glamour is this strong, and you managed to break it?”
Suddenly I was uncomfortable. In truth, I was just as surprised as he. “My sword helped,” I muttered.
He observed me closely, probably wondering if I was joking, though he knew the sword was sentient. Whatever conclusion he reached, he did not question me further. “I found another entrance near the old keep. Perhaps we should go that way.”
“Lead on.” I gestured toward the doorway with my bloody sword. For some reason, I didn’t feel quite ready to put it away.
I followed behind Asher, and Steifan behind me. We found our lantern with just
