Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire #1)

Where are you, you culling rock!

“There’s no way out of here, is there, Seph? You might as well give up. I’ll make it quick. It’s not personal. Honestly, I respect you. I wasn’t lying earlier in the lodge. You’re sharp as an ax. That’s just the problem. I knew you didn’t buy the story about a bear killing Reglan. I could see you moving all your men into place. It was only a matter of time before you ordered my death. You just waited a little too long, that’s all. Given a few more hours, I’d have been the one hiding in the dark, trying to get away from Raithe, Nyphron, or maybe that ugly goblin thing. If the situations were reversed, I’m sure you’d kill me quick, right? No sense dragging this out. I swear to Elan and Eton that I’ll cut your throat clean and quick. I feel I owe that to Reglan, you know?”

Shivering in the dark, she could hear Konniger, feet sliding on stone as he inched in. He was so close that she heard the water dripping off his clothes. When her toe touched the end of the corridor, she felt her heart sink. She was at the end in every way a person could be.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX


Beneath the Falls




That night there was more than one killer in the forest, the next day a lot more ghosts.

—THE BOOK OF BRIN





Maeve hadn’t moved.

Suri held Minna as she looked at the rumpled pile of cloth that had been the old woman, her white hair sprayed out in a fan. Suri spotted the finger of a hand, palm up, and a leg’s pale skin sticking out from under her dress. She needed to check on her but was afraid to, afraid to let go of Minna, afraid to see what the bear had done. In truth, Suri was just afraid. Her hands were trembling where they clutched Minna’s fur. The last time she’d been this scared was after finding Tura facedown in the garden. This time was worse. Suri hadn’t simply arrived home to a woman who looked as if she’d picked a stupid place to sleep.

Suri felt safe holding Minna, or as safe as she could feel. Nothing was as reassuring as hugging a wolf, but she had to check on Maeve. She might still be alive, not that it would matter. Better if she was dead. Suri couldn’t do much for her if she wasn’t.

“Wait here,” she told the wolf as she rose on uncertain legs.

Suri staggered toward Maeve. Along the way, she picked up Tura’s staff, which helped. Then she knelt beside the old woman. All that white hair obscured her face. Reaching out, Suri brushed it back.

Maeve opened her eyes.

Suri jerked her hand back. “I thought you were dead!”

The old woman managed a smile, not just with her lips but with her eyes. Looking up at Suri, she beamed.

“I’m so sorry,” Suri said. “It didn’t work. I don’t know why. I did it right—I know I did. Tura said I was good at such things, and I am…usually. I’ve always been able to stop the goulgans from getting in the mushrooms. My wards worked even better than hers.”

Maeve struggled to raise a hand. She only got it a few inches off the ground, where it hovered, shaking. Suri reached out and took hold of it.

“It’s all right. It’s all right,” Maeve whispered in a thread-thin voice. “It did work.”

Suri didn’t understand. “It did?”

Looking around the cave, she searched for Maeve’s daughter. She expected to see a naked baby or maybe a young girl, but only Minna was there. Having never exorcised an evil spirit, Suri had no idea what to expect, what to look for. It was possible she’d missed the moment when Maeve’s daughter freed herself. A lot was happening, after all. Maybe the fire did it. That made a lot of sense. The fire could have distracted the demon and forced the girl’s soul out the way the salt should have. The fire’s brightness would have made it impossible for Suri to notice the transformation.

But then where is the child?

Suri looked around the cave once more and found nothing.

“I don’t see her,” Suri said. “Are you sure it worked?”

Suri felt Maeve’s quivering fingers squeezing hers. “I can see her. She’s safe and…and she is beautiful…she is so…”

Maeve’s fingers stopped quivering. The sight went out of her eyes, but the smile, that giant grin, remained.

—

Persephone could hear Konniger breathing. He was panting.

With nowhere to go, she bent her knees, lowering herself and crouching down. She cowered into a ball, trying to become as small as possible. A child’s plan, and as feeble as it was, this one hope was all she had.

Maybe he’ll reach out, touch the end of the crack, and think I got away. He might doubt whether I came in here at all.

She didn’t even dare to pray, not out loud. In her head, she begged Mari to save her, to hide her, to—

“It’s really narrow in here, isn’t it? How did you find this place?”

Persephone covered her face with her hands to muffle her breathing, which was far too rapid and loud. She cursed her body for needing air. And wondered if Konniger could really hear her heart beating. To her own ears it pounded at an alarming volume.

“Did you know there was a pool down here, or did you just jump and pray? I’ll bet you didn’t even see the cliff. I’m impressed you didn’t scream.”

She heard the scrape of his feet as he pressed closer and probably could have touched him if she extended her arm.

“You don’t have that spear with you, do you, Seph? No, you dropped that. Lucky for me. Otherwise this—”

Splash!

The sound came from outside.

It’s Raithe!

Somehow he had managed to escape and had come for her. Only one splash meant Malcolm was injured or dead, or maybe they had split up and he had gone to save Suri. What mattered was that Raithe was there, and he was going to save her.

Konniger stopped moving.

“Thurgin? Devon?” Konniger shouted. He was right next to her, and his voice was so loud that she jerked in terror. “That you?”

It has to be Raithe! It has to be! It has to be!

Persephone wanted to cry out, wanted to scream his name, but Konniger was so close. She had to wait, had to squeeze herself into the floor, to hide, to give Raithe time.

More splashing, and it was getting closer.

“Who is it?” Konniger asked, his voice less confident. “Who’s out there?”

Still no answer came.

If it’s Raithe, why doesn’t he say so?

She heard Konniger shift, heard him take a step away and then another. “Who are you?”

The small patch of light that marked the opening of the crack vanished as something big blocked it out.

“Who in Elan’s name are you?” Konniger cried.

The answering roar shook the stone.

—

Raithe and Malcolm moved as fast as they could but had no hope of keeping up with the Fhrey as they darted like deer through the trees. Their speed and silence, especially in the dark, was amazing and more than a little frightening. Raithe and Malcolm were left far behind and in awe.

Maybe they aren’t gods, but they have to be magical—some form of crimbal, perhaps?

By the time Raithe and Malcolm reached the cave, Maeve was dead, and the Fhrey were building a litter to carry her body back to the dahl. There wasn’t a bear—living or dead—and Raithe assumed it had been driven off.

Suri was alive. The young mystic crouched on her knees beside the Keeper of Ways with Minna curled beside her.

There was no sign of Persephone.

Raithe had been certain she would come there, forgoing the rol and trying to save Maeve and Suri on her own. A bloom of panic ignited as he began to doubt he would ever see her again.

No, he thought. I’m being foolish.

He tried to convince himself that she had taken his hint and run for the rol. He wanted to believe she’d locked herself inside and was safe, waiting for them to find her. But as sensible as all that seemed, it was too good to be true. Nothing in his life had ever gone completely his way, and the gods still had their eyes on him. They always wanted blood. Maeve was dead, but one old woman wouldn’t be enough to sate the appetite of gods.

“Suri,” he said.

The girl turned her head and looked up slowly, her eyes taking time to focus.