Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (43 page)

He frowned down at me. "But then you showed up. Always thinking the world exists for your saving, like some unrequited hero."

I spat blood in his face.

Violence flashed in his eyes, and he kicked me in the face. I spun with such force against the chains, I thought my arms might rip from their sockets. I wheezed, my ribs burning with each shallow breath, and I flexed my jaw to make sure it hadn't been dislocated.

"What's he promised you, Denn?" I coughed out, spitting more blood on the ground as I sagged against the chains. "Ravenshelm? You know you won't last one winter up here."

"That's longer than you're gonna last, Del Conte." He crouched before me and pulled a sword from his belt. It was Flamebearer. He laid the flat of the blade to his palm, looked over it, then tossed it in his grip, testing the balance. "This is different than your usual sword. Is it new? It certainly doesn't look like much."

"What do you want, Denn?" I asked, then winced at the pain in my chest and jaw.

He glared down at me. "You aren't getting out of here, Del Conte. Ravenshelm is no longer a friend to the crown—we made sure of that. They all know Darius left them to die, and when they learn that one of his
wolves
is here, you'll be lucky if King Eris comes before the people kill you."

"You coward!" The insult had come from Vera's cell, situated on the other side of Thaddeus's.

Denn glared in her direction, then stood, sheathed my sword, and motioned to his men. They stepped back into the hall, locking my cell door after them.

"What did you say?" I heard Denn asked.

"You heard me, you idiot," Vera hissed. I usually admired Vera's fortitude, but right then I wished she'd just shut her bloody mouth. "You make me sick, you sack of
kutt
," she continued, "and when I get out of this cell, I'll gut you like the pig you are."

"Gaff!" Denn barked. "Hand me the keys."

"Denn…" I groaned.

"Which key belongs to the she-wolf?" Denn asked.

Vera was still flinging curses at him.

"Denn…wait," I said, louder this time, even though it hurt to speak.

Vera slung more curses, I heard a shuffle, followed by the click of handcuffs, and then chains rattled and jerked against bars. He must have cuffed her to her door.

"Denn,
don't
," I growled through clenched teeth, straining against the pain. "Whatever you need from me…I'll cooperate. I swear on my life."

"There's nothing
you
have that I need."

Vera's chains rattled again. "Uncuff me, you bastard!"

"Sure. Right after I'm through."

"Touch her, Denn, and I'll kill you."

Thaddeus sounded so much like Eris that at first I'd thought Eris had already arrived and was here in the dungeons with us. It was enough to make Denn hesitate.

"Well, isn't this interesting," Denn said. "Maybe I should have you watch."

"If you so much as bloody breathe on her I swear to Gaia and every one of her spirits that I will—" Thaddeus's oath was cut short by a burst of frantic voices farther down the tunnel.

The voices drew nearer and nearer, and then I heard a new voice say, panting, "You're needed above."

"What for?" Denn sounded irritated.

"The ravens attacked again."

"And you couldn't take care of them?" Now he sounded furious.

"There's a lot more this time."

"They're bloody birds!" Denn's words rang.

"Sorry, sir, but it's pretty bad. We tried taking care of them, but we need your help."

A pause, then a door slammed shut. "Two dozen guards of the Night's Order, and you can't handle bloody birds," Denn spat. "I'll be back. Gaff, you stay here. And if I find you drenched in piss again, I'll make you drink it."

"Aye, sir," Gaff replied quietly. 

Denn flashed one scathing glance at me through my bars, and stormed off with his guards. I slumped against the wall, my body aching everywhere. We had to get out of here before Denn came back. And then I felt the air shift.

It wasn't much, just a kiss of cold air against my forehead. I kept my eyes fastened on my window, my ears piqued. A few moments passed, and the back of my neck prickled. Someone was using magic. Was it Thaddeus? Or Vera? Had one of them actually managed to break down the barrier? I didn't think it possible, but they'd definitely surprised me before. I would've expected this hidden talent to show itself
before
Denn came down and made us endure his shameless perversity.

Metal clattered softly in the hall. The torchlight flickered and dimmed, and then a cowl appeared before my window. I couldn't see the face hidden in the shadows.

"Cicero…?" It was a whisper.

I didn't move. I didn't breathe.

"Cicero, are you in there?" the person asked again.

I waited a breath. "Who are you?"

Energy buzzed over my skin like electricity, and my door unlatched and swung open. The person tugged back his cowl. Our eyes locked, he had a moment of confusion, and then we exchanged smiles. Of course
he
would know how to bypass the dungeon's spell. When Denn and his men had caught us, I hadn't let myself hope… But he was alive.

"You look like hell," he said, rushing to my side.

"Thanks." I winced.

 Another swell of magic buzzed over me. My shackles clicked open, and he helped unthread the chain. Once I was completely untangled, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to a stand.

Air whistled through my clenched teeth. He heard.

"Broken rib," I grunted.

"Denn?" he asked, his eyes flashing with hatred.

I nodded fractionally. He held on to me as I hobbled out of my cell and noted the guard—Chains/Gaff—passed out on the floor.

"Spelled asleep. But we still need to hurry before the others return."

"The birds…was that you?" I asked.

He grinned.

"You know this guy, Del Can't?" Thaddeus asked, peering mistrustfully through his bars.

"He's with you?" our rescuer asked me.

"Yes, and the cell left of his."

I leaned against the wall as he moved to Thaddeus's cell. Magic pulsed from him, the door unlatched and opened, and a bewildered Thaddeus stumbled out.

Thaddeus noticed my condition, and a muscle flexed in his neck. "You okay, Del Can't?"

I nodded curtly. "Thaddeus, meet Theon Halmstead."

If Paul Bunyan had a Gaian equivalent, it would've been Theon. He'd always had a head full of hair, but as we'd grown up, he'd turned into a veritable Chia Pet. It seemed he'd also grown a bit lackadaisical with a razor, because the bottom half of his face was hidden in a bush of curly brown. Theon wasn't tall, but he was stocky, and there was a way about him that made him seem larger than he really was. His father was the same way, which is one of the main reasons why Lord Tosca had entrusted Ravenshelm to his care.

Theon moved on to Vera's cell. There was another swell of magic, and he caught her cuffs right as they sprung open and fell to the floor. He shoved the cuffs in his pocket and unlocked her door.

"You're Sir Eldar Halmstead's boy, eh?" Thaddeus said to Theon

Theon was opening his mouth to reply when Vera stormed out of her cage looking like a sabre whose cubs had been stolen. She took one look at me and swore under her breath. "I'll kill that pig."

"Theon, you remember Aegis Vera Neci of Gesh…?" He'd met her only once before, when Vera had accompanied me to this region, but a person didn't typically forget Vera.

Theon remembered, and he didn't insult her with pleasantries. He gave her a gruff nod and turned his attention elsewhere.

"How did you know we were here?" I asked Theon.

Theon stole a quick glance down the hall. "Denn's not the only one with men on the inside." His face darkened and then he turned back to me. I gave him a questioning look, and he said, "Later. Think you can walk?"

"I'll walk."

"Whoa, there, Theology," Thaddeus said, folding his arms over his chest in a very Vera-like manner. "Not until you say where you're taking us." I noticed Thaddeus had placed himself between Vera and us.

Theon raised a brow to me, as if Thaddeus's disobedience was my responsibility. Which, unfortunately, was true.

"We can trust him," I said to Thaddeus. "He's exactly who I came to see."

"What makes you so sure you can still trust him, huh? Just cause you're distantly related? Because if my…if Eris has taken this town, we can't trust
anyone
anymore—family or no. Del Can't. Eris put
Rusty
in charge. For all we know, Theology, here, could be one of Rusty's spies now."

I noticed Thaddeus wasn't too eager to share his true parentage with Theon. "He's not a spy, Thaddeus." I grimaced. Talking hurt too much. "And we're not
distantly
related. He's my first cousin."

Thaddeus looked between us, not mollified.

I groaned, more at Thaddeus than from my injuries. "His mother was a Del Conte—she was my father's sister—and unlike the members of
your
family, mine are inexorably loyal to one another, despite how infrequently we might see one another."

"Then what was the deal with Rune at the gate?"

I sighed with impatience. "Rune is the code name the Halmsteads gave my father. My father and Theon's father were fairly close."

Thaddeus narrowed his eyes at Theon. "Well, being that he's not
my
first cousin, I'm not required to trust him. You try anything, Theology, and…" Thaddeus made a cutting motion across his neck.

I gave Theon an apologetic look. Theon glanced perfunctorily at Vera, and then he led us deeper into the dungeons.

27

DARIA

T
hree days.

Three days of rain. Three days of fog. Three days of berries and bark and no meat.

Three days of wallowing in self-pity because I was stuck here, as a result of my own decisions, away from everyone I loved without the remote possibility of doing anything about it. I did manage to take a bath, though. It was ice cold, and I hadn't undressed completely because Myez had to help me. It also took me a good half hour to comb my fingers through my hair, but at least I smelled better by the end of it.

But I was restless. My ankle still looked like Stefan's foot that night at the festival, when he'd gotten into a fight with a Nord over a
fraeling
. Thinking on Stefan made my chest ache so badly, sometimes I'd move my foot just so the pain in my ankle could distract me from his loss.

"Myez…" I said on the afternoon of the third day. "I wanted to ask you something."

He waited for me to continue.

"Since we're stuck here for the time being," I said this with no small amount of bitterness, "would it…would you be able to give me a tattoo like yours?"

He stopped chewing and eyed me a moment. "Out here?"

"Yes. I mean, assuming you're up for it."

He mulled this over while chewing slowly on a berry. "I am, I think. But I wouldn't be able to give you anything to numb the pain."

I'd expected to feel the pain. That was the whole point. Besides, I'd already surpassed my pain tolerance with my ankle; what was a little more? I picked up a berry and rolled it between my thumb and forefinger. "That's fine…I want to feel the pain."

He was quiet, and then, "I understand. I did, too."

I looked up and met his gaze, and I was surprised how much tenderness was there waiting for me.

"I'll need to find a needle. That purberry bush should have one, and I'll gather berries and sap for pigment."

"You're sure you're feeling up to it?" I asked.

"I'll let you know if I need a break," he said. "Will you be okay if I leave for a bit to gather the supplies?"

"I'll be fine. Might even go for a walk." I forced a grin.

He chuckled and ducked out of the cave.

By the time he returned to our small cave, the sun had set completely. It was too dark to work now, so instead we spoke a little about where I'd want my tattoo and what I'd want it to say before we both dozed off in the cave. At sunrise, we both feasted on berries he had picked and then started drawing.

We worked together on the design, drawing patterns on the cave floor until I was satisfied with the placement of the names of my father, mother, brother, and grandfather. Their names were beautiful in the old language, swirling and elegant and bold. Myez's left arm was still very weak, but he swore to the spirits he'd be able to give me the tattoo as long as he could use a rock beneath his elbow for support and take a few breaks. This inevitably meant the process would take a lot longer, but being that we weren't leaving this vale any time soon, I didn't see this as an issue. Myez picked a few small twigs off the dead tree outside, and then he dug the needle into the end of one twig so that it looked like a small scythe, while I mashed the berries and combined their juices with some sap he'd gathered in a small bowl-shaped rock he'd found. It felt good to have a mission again, no matter how small. And once everything was prepared, we got to work.

I peeled off my leather top so that I was sitting there in my bandeaux, while Myez set out the supplies so he could easily reach them. I lay on my stomach with my hands folded under my face, and Myez wiped my shoulder clean and got to work.

He held the makeshift scythe with his bad arm propped against a flat rock while using his right hand to hold the twig that would tap the needle through my skin, and when the first puncture hit, I swore.

"You have to hold still," Myez said. "My arm's shaky enough as it is."

I bit my bottom lip and squeezed my eyes shut. "Sorry, it just…surprised me."

"Well, now you know how it feels. Think you can keep still?"

"I will."

He kept going. Stab after stab, prick after prick. My eyes watered and I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out, but I refused to tell him to stop. I had lost all the family I had. This physical pain was nothing compared to the pain I carried around with me on the inside.

For hours it went on like this. Sometimes Myez would stop to rest his arm, but then he'd get right back to tap-tap-tap-tapping, around my shoulder and down my arm, halfway to my elbow. My skin felt as though it were on fire. He didn't speak to me, other than to make sure I was still all right, but he let me have this moment. He let me have the pain and agony, he let me feel every poke of that needle and the burning that followed, and at dusk, when Myez was finally done, I was sweating and hurting and unable to move. Myez left me for a moment and came back to pour cool water over my open wound. It felt like a thousand tiny needles poked through my dermal layer all over again.