Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (32 page)

I left his team and climbed up next to Pyth
on the rocky hill above the kitchen exit. The red mountains in the
distance caught the last rays of sunlight. The shadows along the
sand matched the ones below his eyes. “How much longer until you’re
ready?”

“
This is the last one,” he
said, his voice tight as he pulled the rope taut. He tied it to a
short, scraggly shrub whose roots had sunk deep to reach the
limited moisture of the desert. I followed the rope to the pile of
boulders he had placed carefully above the exit from the kitchen.
The red rock boulders were held in place by two long, thin pieces
of red rock that had once been a table in the dining cave and were
split much to Chaxa's pain and my enjoyment. The red rock panels
leaned precariously against two stakes tied to the rope. I had only
to yank on the rope when I exited the kitchen to send the rock
avalanche into the tunnel. It wouldn't hold the Sathen long, but
Pyth would stay outside the exit and blow the Caves as soon as I
triggered the avalanche.

I touched Pyth's shoulder. “I need you to
promise me something,” I said.

He gave me a calculating look. “Depends on
what it is.”

I smiled. “You know me too well.”

He shrugged. “Comes from surviving too many
battles together.”

I nodded, but I needed him to do what I
asked without question. I straightened and looked him in the eyes,
my expression serious. “Lieutenant Pyth, I need you to trigger the
explosives if I don't make it from the Caves after the others are
out safely.”

Pyth's eyes widened. He looked like he
wanted to protest, but I cut him off. “That's an order,
Lieutenant.”

He took a breath, then nodded. “As you wish,
Commander.” Emotions flooded through his eyes, but I turned away
before he could voice them. I had promised he would make it back to
his wife and child, and though he hated the fact that he was the
only Duskie not leading Sathen through the Caves or defending the
sleeping Nathos and Luminos, it was of the greatest importance that
he was ready to blow the Caves whether I made it out or not. I
walked away and heard his frustrated sigh behind me, but knew he
would do what he needed to in order to defend our people.

We helped the Luminos up to the tents on the
dunes after the Caves were ready and the explosives were set. Axon
settled on the sand and put his forehead against mine, closing his
eyes with a sigh. I breathed in his desert and wind-swept scent and
it calmed my heart like nothing else could. “You know that if
anything happens to you, you won’t be long alone.”

My heart slowed. “And why is that?”

He opened his eyes and stared into mine.
“Because I’ll die of a broken heart.”

At any other time, his words would have
sounded poetic and dramatic, but the honesty in them struck me to
the core. I nodded, my forehead still against his. “I’ll do my best
not to kill us both.”

He gave a small smile. “You do that.” He
took another steeling breath. “It kills me to let you do this,” he
said weakly.

I kissed him. “You know we don’t have a
choice. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“
Promise?” he pressed,
fighting the sleep that tried to take him away.

“
I promise.”

He shook his head, still trying to come up
with a different solution.

“
There's no time, love,” I
whispered. I leaned down and kissed him softly on the
forehead.

“
There has to be another
way,” he replied, his voice so quiet I barely heard it.

“
Trust me,” I pleaded
softly.

He nodded and let his eyes close.

I motioned for Pyth and Commander Kennik to
follow me, and we slid back down the side of the dune and made our
way to the Caves. Forty Duskies followed us armed with swords and
routes to safety after they entered the Caves. We left behind
twenty Duskies under Erion's command to defend the Luminos and
Nathos in case our plan went awry, twenty Duskies hid at the
entrance to the Caves to take down any Sathen that didn’t fall for
our trap, and twenty more hid behind the Caves at the kitchen exit
to kill any that escaped, but there weren’t enough Duskies in any
group to survive if something went wrong. Destroying the horde of
Sathen was the only promise of safety we had.

Commander Kennik took his place on top of
the main entrance and crouched behind the pile of stones with his
rope in hand to close off the entrance after the Sathen had
entered. Pyth took his position around the back of the Caves at the
kitchen exit so he could blow the explosives either when I appeared
or when the other Duskies had made it out safely and returned to
his exit. I led the Duskies that would run through the Caves to a
small dune near the entrance. We settled on the cooling red sand
and waited.

Any sign of the sun disappeared completely,
and still the Sathen failed to appear. The scent of blood from
Commander Jashen’s trail through the desert sat heavily in the air
attracting sand crabs and small black spiders, but there was no
sign of the Sathen horde. I watched the Nathos rise on the bigger
dune across from us and listened to the Duskies fill them in on the
plan. If the Sathen attacked when either the Luminos or Nathos were
at strength, they were to wait at the various exits and help the
Duskies escape, finishing off any Sathen that made it through
before the tunnels were blocked. Swords glinted in the moonlight,
then the Nathos quieted and watched the desert for the Sathen.

Tension rose as the creatures failed to
appear.

“
Maybe the battle at the
Caves and then fighting us took away their blood lust,” Pyth said
with a slight smile.

I studied the dark desert; my heart jumped
at every puff of dust stirred by the night wind and every cry of
desert creatures cloaked by the night. “We can hope,” I said, but I
knew in my heart that we hadn’t seen the last of the Sathen.

Chapter 34

We waited throughout the night, then the
Nathos lay down to sleep as the horizon blushed and the stars
disappeared from above. Slowly, the animal sounds stopped and a
thick silence fell across the desert. I drew my sword just as
someone shouted from across the dune and pointed at dust rising in
the distance.

I turned to the Duskies behind me, smiled to
hide the trepidation in my chest, and motioned for them to rise.
The plume of dust grew closer and my breath slowed. It was obvious
by the size of the dust cloud that the Sathen had brought
reinforcements. We slid down the small dune and waited near the
entrance to the Caves when the first Sathen appeared.

They flooded over the dunes around us,
thousands of black eyes and red scales that glinted and seethed
together. For a moment I could only stare; my blood ran cold in my
veins at the sheer number of them. There were so many more than
even the footprints in the valley between the dunes. No one had
ever guessed so many Sathen had banded together, and there was no
way our small army could defeat them if our plan failed.

The Sathen drew near, gaping mouths drooling
at the scent of blood at our feet and fresh carcasses in the Caves
beyond. Then several stopped and looked toward the dune where the
rest of our party slept behind the tent. The ice that froze my
limbs broke and I picked up a rock near the entrance and threw it
as hard as I could. It hit the highest Sathen on the dune hard
enough to crack its skull and send the others on top of it in a
blood-thirsty pile. Within seconds there was nothing left but
bloody, broken bones.

I threw another rock and it hit a second
Sathen who turned and hissed at me. I waved my arms and yelled and
the Duskies around me did the same, hitting their swords against
their small shields and showing the Sathen that fresh meat waited
just below them. The Sathen who had started up the dune turned and
opened their mouths in wide grins that showed all their rows of
teeth. They left the hill and surged toward us with eager hunger in
their black eyes and I realized that we had made one critical error
in judgment; the Sathen were much faster than we had thought. The
seething mass of bodies swarmed down the dunes to the Caves. I
pushed the Duskies around me into the tunnel, then ducked in after
them.

“
Separate!” I
yelled.

Duskies dove down their various tunnels,
yelling and making as much noise as they could. The scratch of
claws on rocks sounded so loud and close behind me I knew that most
of the horde had taken the bait and were following me down the
blood trail to the lower tunnels. I ran as fast as I could, but I
couldn't outdistance them.

The closest Sathen bit at my heels before I
even reached the main corridor. I drew my sword and spun, catching
the first two across the throat. They fell and were lost under a
rush of claws and teeth. I turned and ran across the corridor as
fast as I could, careful to jump over the outcropping of stone in
the middle. It slowed the Sathen for a second, but then they were
right at my heels again. Claws caught my calf and a searing pain
ran up my leg. I kicked hard and ran forward without looking
back.

They were faster than me.

The thought kept pounding over and over with
the frantic rhythm of my feet. I ran down the ramp that led to the
lower chambers and through the bottom caves. The tunnels twisted
and turned, but I could have followed them blindfolded. The
adrenaline from the thousands of Sathen who chased me through the
darkness spurred me faster. I reached the lowest tunnels and my
breath fogged in the air. I skidded around a corner, slipped on a
patch of ice, and slammed into a door to one of the many mining
shafts that had been closed off so no one would plummet to their
death.

I pushed back to my feet just as the first
Sathen slipped on the same patch of ice and hit the wall next to
me. A scent touched my nose and I glanced through the door to see
massive reddish mounds that gave off the smell of cinnamon and
sage. I stared, stunned, until a sharp claw caught my arm. I turned
and chopped off the reaching hand, then ran around the opposite
side of the cavern and up the other ramp.

We had chosen the kitchen exit because it
would give time for all of the Sathen to enter the Caves before
Kennik released the avalanche, but we never took into account the
speed the Sathen could muster when pursuing prey. I hoped that the
other Duskies had made it out of their tunnels as I scrabbled back
up the ramp, my feet finding purchase in the fine sand that coated
the path and made the Sathen fall on top of each other in their
effort to catch me.

I backtracked through the dining room and
saw hundreds of Sathen devouring the massive pile of body parts
Commander Jashen had left there. The animals snapped at each other,
pulling at mutilated limbs and attacking at any who threatened
their meal. I ran down the hall past my chamber and a brief memory
of the leaf in the hidden floor groove I had cut brought a surge of
energy through my body.

I rounded the corner from the Duskie
chambers, then tripped on a pickax someone had left out. I landed
on my own sword and felt the curve cut into my stomach. Sathen
claws tore across my back like fire, and one grabbed my left hand
in its mouth. I rolled to my right, freeing my sword and right arm,
and I drew the blade across my left hand, severing the head of the
creature that had it in its teeth. I jumped to my feet, stumbled,
and pushed down the hallway as fast as I could.

I could see the entrance to the kitchens
just ahead. Sathen paced me on either side, biting at my feet and
hands and gouging chunks out of my back. One jumped and landed on
my shoulders and I let out a cry; when I turned to knock him off
against the wall, another Sathen tripped my feet.

I fell against the entrance to the kitchen
and the Sathen swarmed over me with a surge of teeth and claws. I
held my arms over my face to protect it. Time slowed; I felt every
bite and scratch. I pushed up against the wall so that my back was
protected, and felt the familiar sensation of scratchy red sand on
my tattered skin. I couldn’t see past the red scaled bodies,
bloodstained teeth, and void-like black eyes that surged around
me.

I closed my eyes in despair and saw Axon’s
face in my mind. His icy blue eyes stared into mine with an
intensity that matched the way he had spoken to Chaxa, but this
time he directed it at me.

“
Get up.”

I shook my head and the Sathen growled
around me, fighting over my body. “I can’t,” I said out loud.

“
Nexa, you’ve been fighting
since you were born. You can’t give up now!”

Tears rolled down my bloodstained cheeks. A
Sathen bit down on my foot and a scream ripped from my throat. “I
can’t,” I sobbed.

Axon’s eyes bore into mine. “You promised.”
Pain reflected in them, the same pain I had seen when he realized
he couldn’t persuade me from pursing my crazy plan, the same pain
that had been there when he said he would die of a broken heart if
anything happened to me. And I heard myself reply that I would do
my best not to kill us both.

I pushed to my feet with an angry roar,
slashing at the closest Sathen and severing body parts without
mercy. The Sathen backed up briefly in shock at my sudden defiance,
then surged forward again. I cut down four with one blow, threw my
sword at another one, then limped through the kitchen as fast as I
could.

“
Nexa!” Pyth shouted from
the hole.

I followed his voice, blinded by blood that
flowed into my eyes.

A warm brush of air announced the exit. I
pushed outside into Pyth’s arms. He carried me backward and I felt
as much as heard the avalanche of stone that trapped the Sathen
inside when someone pulled the rope. Duskies surged forward and cut
down the Sathen that had made it through with my escape.