Prince of Demons 2: The Order of the Black Swan (6 page)

She was sore and tired and still plagued by the smell of sulfur that had permeated their hair and clothes. But in defiance of all that makes sense, she felt happy, more at peace than she’d been in a very long time.

“Lana.” She felt
herself being roused, but resisted, moaning a protest. “Lana. I hear something. We’ve got to go.”

After a second, Brave’s words penetrated. She came fully awake and sat up. “Where? What? Okay.” She pulled herself up hoping that all her body’s systems were checking in and on board with a rushed and anxious rising.

He was already at the door, still looking sleepy himself. “Come.” He motioned for her to move quicker.

The sky was pink, but the sun wasn’t yet up.

He led her away from the way they’d come. She heard the bark howling that they’d run from the day before.

“Is that the, um…?”

“Straithgard. Yes.”

They moved into deeper thicket, but within a few yards it gave way to a darker forest with a bare hard packed floor. The trees were so tall it was impossible to see the tops, only seemingly endless stretches of black smooth tree trunk. The starkness of it was eerie and foreboding and Lana’s intuition was screaming in protest of venturing further.

“Brave, I have a bad feeling about this place.”

He stopped and looked at her. “I know. I’m hoping the straithgard feel the same way.”

“What are they exactly? You said canines. Like dogs or wolves?”

“Yes. Bigger and their fangs are… more impressive, I think.”

After mulling that picture over in her mind, she decided she would rather face Maleficent’s Dark Wood. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The sounds of straithgard on the hunt became fainter the deeper they went, which meant that Brave’s strategy was sound. But the tension that lingered in the air came from reasoning that the straithgard wouldn’t refuse to enter unless there was a good reason.

Within ten minutes that reason presented itself. At first Lana thought she was seeing things. When presented with something impossible, the mind tries to make sense of it according to its understanding of the parameters of reality and the operations of physics. When nothing fits, there’s a delay in between perception, terror, and fight or flight.

She blinked a few times when it looked like a black blob of ooze separated itself from a tree trunk and began wiggle-flopping its way in her direction with squishing sounds. She grabbed onto Brave with a death grip, but couldn’t get her vocal chords to respond to the scream she wanted to release. If the thing had a face or any orifices at all, she couldn’t locate them, which was somehow worse than encountering a gaping maw of sharp teeth.

By the time Brave had turned to witness what she was seeing, there were more of them pouring out of tree trunks.

All her life Lana had read about people being so frightened that they were shaking all over, but she’d never experienced it before. She knew that, if she somehow managed to survive the predicament, she would never forget the discomfort of that feeling.

With his gift for being succinct when necessary, Brave simply said, “Run.”

He grabbed her hand and she did just that being helped along by the pull of his strength and greater speed. When it seemed their path was blocked, with no way out, he said, “Jump!”

Lana looked at the width and breadth of the thing that had dropped to ooze along the ground and knew she had no choice but to try to launch herself and fly over it. Just before she reached the thing she bent her knees and sprang aloft with all her might.

Brave had cleared it easily, looking like the male lead in the last act of Swan Lake. There was nothing graceful about Lana’s attempt, but she was close. So close. And for a moment she thought she might make it, but her right foot landed in a pile of goo with a loud squish. Worse, the thing she stepped on let out a sound like a marriage between an out of tune oboe and a squeak.

She wanted to stop and look at her boot, certain it would be covered with disgusting black slime, but that would have to wait for a more opportune time.

They ran until her heart felt like it would burst. But before that happened, they emerged from the Dark Wood onto a grassy bluff with rock face cliffs that dropped to the river valley below.

Leaning over with lungs dragging in air, Lana said between pants, “What were those horribly ugly black things?”

Brave gave a small shrug. “Horribly ugly black things? That’s as good a name as any.”

She glared. “So you don’t know. Just say you don’t know.”

“I
do
know. They’re horribly ugly black things.”

She rolled her eyes. “I have to pee.”

“But…”

She turned a look on Brave that caused him to close his mouth and hold up his hands in surrender.

“Turn around.”

“Oh come on. Seriously?” Something in her unwavering expression told him she was, indeed, serious. “Have it your way. I need to
go
, too.” He emphasized the word ‘go’ to make a point that he was endeavoring to use language that made her feel comfortable. “I’ll
go
over there.” He pointed a few yards away. “You
go
over there.” He pointed to a group of compact bushes that almost looked like a hedge.

“And don’t turn around until I say okay.”

“Don’t set anything on fire.”

“Oh funny! Very funny!”

Lana found a place that was as suitable as could be found under the circumstances and cursed Brave under her breath for his ability to pee without compromising his clothing and becoming utterly vulnerable.

She had a fantasy vision of a hot bath with whirlpool jets, shampoo, sheep’s wool soap between her toes and clean clothes laid out for her pleasure. She sighed and pulled up her tights, feeling both disgusting and miserable. She had the random thought that she would almost be willing to fall into cold water in exchange for a feeling of cleanliness of body and clothing.

“Okay. I’m done,” she said.

Brave was coming toward her. “Good, because we need to…”

There was no need to finish that sentence. They both heard the ugly-sounding baying of straithgard at the same time.

“Where to now?”

Brave stopped long enough to take a good look at Lana. She was a mess – unkempt, tired, dirty and a dozen other adjectives that would describe a condition no one wants to experience. She eyed him warily, wondering why he was looking at her so intently.

“Lana,” he said quietly. “You’re not only beautiful. You’re magnificent.”

After blinking twice, she looked down and rubbed her hands down the front of her rumpled, torn clothing. “Are you making fun of me, Brave?”

He looked surprised. “No.” He shook his head adamantly. “No. I’m just telling you what I see.”

His attention was diverted by the growl-howling, the sound of which was getting stronger.

“Are we out of moves?”

He looked at Lana and grinned. “Not nearly. Let’s go.”

Following Brave around the curve of the bluff and leaving the stand of trees further behind with every step, they were getting farther away from the horribly ugly black things, but the straithgard were getting closer.

She realized that Brave had brought them to a bend in the river that formed a narrow gorge. The distance between the two rock formations that formed the sides of the gorge was relatively close together, which meant that the water below was running very fast, fast enough to create a roar. The closer they got to it, the more difficult it was to hear anything else, which is never a good thing when you’re running for your life.

Brave took her hand and ran straight toward the cliff edge.

“What…?” The question stopped in her throat when she saw that he was leading them to, “No fucking way,” a rope bridge. “Is this escape beginning to feel at all cliché to you?”

Peeking over the edge, she could see that the rushing current of black water and white foam was roughly a hundred feet down. She pulled her hand away, shaking her head vigorously and backing up. “No! Drawing a line. Right here. Right now. You go that way if you want. I’ll find another way.”

“Lana!” He glanced behind her. “It’s not an option. When the straithgard get here, and that won’t be long, we need to be gone. And me going without you? You need to just stop saying that because it’s stupid and it’s also not happening.”

He reached for her hand.

She took a step back.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“Not more than average, but I do have a healthy interest in self-preservation.”

“Is it that you don’t know how to swim?”

“Swim?” She started laughing. “Are you insane? Nobody could swim in a current like that. But why are you asking that question? Do you have a reason to think the bridge wouldn’t hold us?”

It was his turn to shake his head. “Just trying to figure out what you could possibly be more afraid of than what’s chasing us.”

She stared at him for a few beats turning that over in her mind. “I see your point.” She looked at the bridge and back at Brave. “I do know how to swim, but you better see to it that I don’t have to.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He held out his hand again. When she took it, he led her to the edge of the bluff, which was also the beginning of the bridge. Though the distance across was probably only seventy feet, it looked like miles from Lana’s perspective.

“You go first. There’s no reason to be scared. I’ll be right behind. Just put the center of your foot on the next slat and don’t look down.”

“How am I supposed to put the center of my foot on the next slat if I don’t look down?”

“Well… Don’t look down longer than you have to,” he said quickly. “Good. Ready? Let’s go.”

“Wait! How do you know it’ll hold both of us? Maybe you should go ahead by yourself and test it first.”

He narrowed his eyes. “We’re going together. All for one. One for all. Right?”

She narrowed her eyes in return. How dare he throw her own words back at her!

He was herding her toward the edge with his big beautiful stubborn body while she had hold of both his arms, trying to hang onto the sensation of solid ground until the last possible second.

He pinned her with his gaze. “If you don’t turn around now, you’re going to be taking the bridge backward and, while I think that would be an awesome trick, I’m not going to recommend it.” His eyes flicked down to her throat when she swallowed. “I know what you need.”

“What?”

“Since survival isn’t enough motivation for you, let’s sweeten the pot. Hurry across as fast as you can, but be safe,” he warned, “and there will be a prize waiting for you.”

“What kind of prize?” She sounded interested, with a touch of suspicion, and her voice was a little shaky.

“Me!” He grinned proudly. “Get us to the other side and I will let you have your way with me.”

She looked dumbfounded and was mentally running through a list of possible replies when she heard the sounds of the straithgard over the churning water below and decided the time for talking, and hesitation, was done.

Grabbing the corded rail, she put her foot on the first slat. When she felt the give in the fiber and the sway of the free-hanging construction, she had to suppress the urge to scream.

“That’s it, Lana. Looking like a professional bridge walker. Just keep going.” Brave looked behind them. “And hurry.”

By the time she’d taken four steps her legs were shaking so badly that the entire bridge was responding in time. She felt Brave come up behind her, felt his breath on the back of her hair.

“One step at a time. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” he said in soothing tones that seemed way too calm for the circumstance at hand. “But do it faster.”

Brave looked behind them, then yelled to be heard above the noise. “Sorry, Beautiful. We’re out of time. Looks like we’re going for a swim.”

“What? Why?” The shaking in Lana’s legs was so exaggerated that the entire bridge was swaying in a twenty degree arc by that time.

“They’re here. I’m going to have to cut us loose.”

“Brave, you can’t. Please tell me this is another one of your jokes. We can’t go into that water. If the fall doesn’t kill us, the cold will. If the cold doesn’t kill us, the current will.”

“Just look at it this way. You were talking in your sleep about wanting a bath and clean clothes. Well, you know what they say. Be careful what you wish for.”

She worked up just enough courage to look over her shoulder and wished she hadn’t. He was cutting through the rope with the knife he’d stolen right before they left the fortress.

“Brave, you’ve got to stop.”

“Too late. It’s done. On a count of three we’re getting dunked. Don’t worry. When you come up, I’ll be right there.”

“Brave!”

“Don’t worry. We’re going to make it. And be free.” He stepped up behind her. “You have to let go, Lana. If you don’t, when the bridge gives, you’ll be smacked into that rock wall and that
will
kill you. Let go. Hang onto me.”

She was too panicked to say anything more. Brave had to forcibly pry her hands away from the rails and had just succeeded getting one free of rope and attached to him, when the bridge began to give way. As a reflex reaction, Lana let go of the rope rail with the other hand and grabbed onto Brave at the same time they began falling. He was sure her scream broke his eardrum, but he held on tight nonetheless.

She heard Brave yell. “Lana! Take a deep breath!”

When she saw that they were nearing the water, her muscles went rigid, bracing for the shock of cold that was sure to follow, but thankfully her body did what it was told and filled her lungs with air.

The force of impact with the water separated them, but only for a few seconds. Lana’s first thought when she went under was that it wasn’t cold. In fact, it was so close to body temperature that it could almost be called pleasant. Her second thought was that they had survived the fall and the water temperature and if the speed of the current didn’t drown them…

When her head popped up, she still had air and wasn’t desperate. She was moving fast, but didn’t have the sensation that the rushing water was trying to push her under. The moment of panic came when she looked around and didn’t see Brave.