Realm Of Light Part 6

"Not here!" he snapped, enraged at how every word she uttered destroyed more of the lie he had built between himself and the demons. Why couldn't she understand the need for caution, the need for silence? Let Legion think what they wanted. Doing so was to Caelan's-and Elandra's-advantage.

Unwilling to let her say anything else, he severed severed her, wrapping her in cold isolation. He did it without thinking, pus.h.i.+ng her partway into the void without warning or preparation. He had never done this to a person before. He had never realized he could, but it was necessary. her, wrapping her in cold isolation. He did it without thinking, pus.h.i.+ng her partway into the void without warning or preparation. He had never done this to a person before. He had never realized he could, but it was necessary.

Elandra's eyes widened with astonishment and her mouth opened, but she could not speak.

It was a strain to hold her so. For the first time since he'd swum the river, he felt beads of perspiration pop out across his forehead.

Feeling her mind and emotions lash out against his control, Caelan knew he could not hold her long. Fiercely he turned on Legion. "Tell me now," he said harshly. "What is your answer? Do we have a bargain, or not?"

There were suspicious hisses and much jostling among the demons in the back. At least fifty or more were present now, red-eyed and semihostile. They kept staring at Elandra, and Caelan felt increasingly uneasy.

"Warm-blood," the spokesman said at last. It drew back a step from Caelan and no longer looked reverent. "With other warm-blood, now not under spell of protection. No warm-bloods may cross the river. She is our meat."

Fear stabbed through Caelan. To hide it, he raised his sword and scowled at them. "Would you rather feed on one woman instead of the many warm-bloods I will give you? Let her go, and I will free you."

The spokesman drew back angrily and bared its fangs. "Trick!" it cried.

Just as it struck, however, Caelan brought down his sword in one clean, heavy stroke. The spokesman's body, severed in half, went spinning in two directions.

Blood, black and foul-smelling, spilled from the two halves.

From the pooling blood emerged tiny demons, at least a dozen, hopping and furious.

Caelan stepped back, realizing he could not fight them the usual way.

But there was another way to kill them, a way he had never used before. He had always feared the power, knowing that if he ever used it he would want it again.

But the demons were rocking back and forth on their haunches now, tongues flickering, tails las.h.i.+ng. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" they chanted, clearly working themselves into a frenzy while the tiny demons grew larger with every pa.s.sing second.

Caelan released Elandra and entered severance severance himself, plunging deeply into its coldness until he hardly knew himself, hardly remembered what he was or had been. Before him crouched the demon horde, a hundred now and more coming. Their guttural shouts and hisses filled the air, but he hardly heard the sound. himself, plunging deeply into its coldness until he hardly knew himself, hardly remembered what he was or had been. Before him crouched the demon horde, a hundred now and more coming. Their guttural shouts and hisses filled the air, but he hardly heard the sound.

Rus.h.i.+ng past him, they surrounded Elandra. Her horse reared, but the demons pulled the animal down, ripping it apart as others swarmed Elandra. She screamed.

Caelan could see the threads of life, black and knotty, stretching to something hidden beyond the mist at the edges of his vision. He wanted to see no farther, wanted to know nothing about what the threads were connected to.

Caelan severed severed the threads of life, cutting off the two demons first, then slas.h.i.+ng in a broad swathe at the others. the threads of life, cutting off the two demons first, then slas.h.i.+ng in a broad swathe at the others.

Terrible screams filled the air. He snapped out of severance severance and saw blackened, charred heaps littering the ground. Smoke rose from the corpses; the stench from them choked his nostrils. and saw blackened, charred heaps littering the ground. Smoke rose from the corpses; the stench from them choked his nostrils.

Howling with fear, the remaining demons fled from him, vanis.h.i.+ng into the pa.s.sageway.

He let them go, running instead to Elandra. She lay unharmed on the ground, one leg pinned beneath the dead horse. Her face was bone white. Her eyes flashed with fear and something else.

He pulled her free, grateful she had suffered no hurt, and lifted her to her feet.

Fear and revulsion were mingled on her face. She stared at him as though she had never seen him before and slapped him hard across the face with her ungloved hand. His cheek stung fiercely. Taken aback, he blinked and looked down at her.

"How dare you do that to me!" she said. "I am not to be silenced with your spells and foreign magic. You should be whipped and purified."

His own temper boiled up to meet hers. "You were putting our lives at risk-"

She swung at him again, but this time he stepped aside and she missed. "Ingrate!" she sputtered. "You dare talk back to me-"

"As long as you are being a fool, yes!" he retorted.

"It is not your place to reprimand me. I am your empress!"

Scorn curled his lips. He wanted to shake her by her beautiful neck. Instead, he cleaned his sword and sheathed it, then buckled on his armor.

"We can argue later," he said. "Now we had better go."

Elandra stamped her foot. "No, this will be settled now. You have much to answer for."

"Not now."

"When?" she demanded. "Either you recognize my authority, or there is no point in going on."

Caelan refused to look at her. She was a stubborn fool. She understood nothing. "You put us in danger," he said tersely, "interrupting like that. They believed me until you-"

"And what was I to do?" she retorted. "Fold my hands while you allied yourself with these-" She broke off, her throat working convulsively, and gestured at the charred remains. "Why?"

He did not intend to explain. Impatience burned hot in his throat. He wanted to get out of here.

"We must go," he said.

"And I said we will stay until this issue is resolved."

He sighed, curbing his own irritation with difficulty. "I will explain. Majesty, but let us go. They will come back, and when they do we should not be here."

A flicker of unease moved beneath the stubbornness in her eyes. "Very well."

As she spoke, she started ahead of him, but he gripped her arm and pulled her back.

She wrenched free. "How dare you!"

"Your Majesty will recall that they fled into the pa.s.sageway," he said coldly. "If they try to hold it against us, do you really want to be in front?"

Visibly fuming, she stepped aside and gestured for him to precede her. "By all means, go first, guardsman. And see that you keep your magic directed against the demons, instead of against me."

He glared at her, then sighed. "I give you my apology, Majesty, for having severed severed you without your consent. Although you were not hurt, it can be an alarming experience the first time." you without your consent. Although you were not hurt, it can be an alarming experience the first time."

She did not look appeased. "There will be no second time," she said icily. "You overstepped your-"

"Don't put me in my place," he snapped, losing his temper again. He was d.a.m.ned if he'd bow and sc.r.a.pe and kiss her foot, groveling in atonement for having saved her life. "I am here to keep you alive, and that is what I did. If you cannot recognize that, then you should have chosen a different escort."

She opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again without saying anything.

He glared at her a moment longer, then turned his back and strode on. "Come."

Chapter Five.

At the dark mouth of the pa.s.sageway, Caelan paused, holding his drawn sword ready, and peered inside. Ancient, disturbing symbols streaked the walls, and every time he glanced at them, his eyes burned. The pale illumination that filled the small cavern did not reach far into the pa.s.sageway. Looking at its blackness, Caelan felt a surge of deep uneasiness. He did not think Legion would give up easily.

He glanced back at Elandra. Despite her tangled hair and rumpled, dirty clothing, she still looked regal, elegant, beautiful.

Something s.h.i.+fted in his heart. Frowning, he looked away from her quickly.

His own temper had cooled. He wondered if he had spoken too harshly to her. After all, she was a gentlewoman, n.o.ble-born and bred. She had been cosseted and protected all her life. Probably no one had ever spoken a rough word to her before. No doubt she thought him a coa.r.s.e, loud-mouthed oaf.

He began to wish he had not lost his temper with her, had not been so defiant and scornful. It was not her fault if she did not understand what he was doing.

"Why do you hesitate?" she asked, her tone stiff and cool, but controlled. "Can the great champion of the arena be afraid?"

Her scorn stung like salt in an open wound. He gestured for her to be silent and eased cautiously into the dark tunnel.

She followed without a word. He could sense she feared him almost as much as she feared the demons, but he forced himself to concentrate on what lay ahead.

His own breathing sounded harsh and ragged in his ears. His heart was pumping too fast. He kept straining, listening to sounds that might be real or imagined. The menace around them could be felt; it slid through his consciousness like a great, undulating serpent.

There was something very wrong in this pa.s.sageway. He could smell a pervasive rottenness, a rank corruption that made him gasp. The air felt heavy against his face. He seemed to push against something he could not see, and it crumbled and shredded around him like something long decayed.

"Please stop!" Elandra called out from behind him.

He turned back to look at her. She was breathing short and hard.

"We cannot go this way," she said. "We must turn back."

"It is the only way out of this trap," he said.

"No. There is something wrong. I feel it."

"We must keep going."

She shook her head. "I'm going back."

When she turned around, he gripped her elbow from behind and drew her to him. She struggled, twisting around to face him, but still he would not let her go.

"Release me!" she cried, striking at him with her fists. "You impertinent oaf, I'll have your hands cut off for-"

"Don't make threats you don't mean," he said, holding her fast. "You can't go back, Majesty. You'll be lost forever if you do."

"This is not the way out."

"Legion said it was."

She gasped aloud. "You take the word of-of demons? Are you mad?"

"I sense it is true," he said.

She grew very still in his grasp. Hesitantly he released her and stepped back.

"You sense it," she said after a moment, disbelief ripe in her voice.

"Please don't ask how."

"I can't accept this," she said, shaking her head. "I can't accept any of this. I-"

"Stop it!" he said sharply, afraid she might grow hysterical. "We were supposed to go through the hidden ways with Kostimon. But no matter how fast I hurried, never could I catch up. Some trickery was done to us. We have journeyed for hours, far too long. I think we were never meant to escape this place."

She drew in her breath audibly. "You think this is Lord Sien's revenge?"

"Yes."

"Kostimon might come back. He might search for us."

Caelan frowned. "Do you believe he will, Majesty?"

Her eyes filled with tears that did not fall. Pretense and false hopes leached from her face, leaving her cheeks drawn and pale. She shook her head.

"The emperor is well on the other side and safe by now," Caelan said. "Do you honestly think otherwise?"

She wiped her face. "How could we become lost?"

"We are in the realm of shadow, where nothing is as it seems. I think we have been walking through an illusion. According to what Legion said, we weren't supposed to cross the river."

"Then we should go back across it."

"No," he said.

"But-"

"I will not swim through it again, and you should not."

"I can swim-"

"That isn't the issue," he said in exasperation.

"No, it isn't," she snapped. "It's about your refusal to accept my authority-"

"Do you want to swim through d.a.m.nation?" he asked, losing his temper. "That is Aithe, river of the d.a.m.ned! Is it such an insult that I seek to spare you from experiencing thatl thatl G.o.ds, I would not put myself willingly through such horror again, much less you." G.o.ds, I would not put myself willingly through such horror again, much less you."

She blinked at him, looking abashed. "Oh," she said in a small voice.