Ruby Shadows (32 page)

Apparently he knew I wouldn’t change my
mind.

“
Kurex,” he shouted to the
horse, whose ears pricked forward at once. “Take her—go!” He added
some words in that harsh language that hurt my ears and then,
before I could protest, Kurex was galloping again, taking me down
the mountainside and into the flat, snow covered plains below that
Laish had called the Drowning Pools.

“
No!
No!”
I tugged hard on the reins but
the big horse wasn’t listening to me at all. He neighed and surged
forward, taking me away from the battle.

I turned my head, the freezing air whipping
my hair into my face, and saw an awful sight—the Skitterlings had
reached Laish and they were swarming him. Hundreds of them covered
his head and scaly sides. He whipped his long neck and tail back
and forth, shaking them off, trampling them beneath his clawed
feet, and always breathing more and more fire but it did no good.
No matter how many he killed there were always more coming…always
more and more and more.

My last sight of him was of a writhing mass
covered in the many-legged bodies. A great spout of flame emerged
from the mass, shooting straight up into the dirty gray sky like a
flag of surrender or defeat. And then Kurex galloped down over the
crest of high hill and I could see no more.

Chapter
Twenty-two

Gwendolyn

I cried and cried and the
tears froze on my cheeks. We were far from the battle now and Kurex
seemed to be picking his way carefully through the field of snow
although he had galloped for as long as he could. I clung to his
back, half frozen in the lightweight dress Laish had conjured me to
wear in the scorching desert. Here in the frozen wastes of Stygia,
the dress was almost useless. I was certain he had planned to give
me something much more substantial to wear once we got here but he
hadn’t had a chance—and now he might
never
get the chance. He might be
dead—or what served for dead with demons, whatever that
was.

No, stop—don’t think like
that!
I told myself but I couldn’t help
it—my mind went on and on. Though I wished I could push the awful
thoughts away they just kept coming. Could a demon of his status be
killed? Laish had seemed to think so—he had told me that if the
Skitterlings overcame him I should stay with Kurex. But could he
really be gone? It didn’t seem possible. And yet—

“
Please, Mistress…”The
soft, pleading voice broke my train of thought and I looked down to
see where it was coming from. “Pl-please,” begged the voice
again.

The freezing wind, which seemed to be
eternally blowing in this level of Hell, whipped the snow by
Kurex’s front hooves aside and I saw the edge of what appeared to
be a wide, deep pond. Leaning out of it, her lips blue, her teeth
chattering, was a girl who looked to be about my age. It was
impossible to say what color her hair was—it was dark with
water—but her pale skin had a distinctly bluish tint to it too.
Clearly she was freezing to death.

“
Oh my!” I tugged on
Kurex’s reins, pulling him up short though he snorted and stamped.
“What happened to you?” I asked, scrambling off the horse. “Did you
fall in?”

“
No, they th-threw me in.”
Her green eyes were wide and pitiful. “And I c-couldn’t get
out.”

I pushed the leather satchel I wore crossed
over my chest to one side and was just in the act of leaning over
to offer her my hand when I remembered what Laish had told me—that
Minauros had been made to punish rapists and Stygia to punish
murderers.

“
Wait a minute.” Though it
went against every instinct I had not to grab the girl and drag her
out at once, I hesitated. “Who threw you in? And why?” I
demanded.

“
Why…” She leaned further
out of the pool—almost close enough to touch—and her green eyes
seemed to gleam.
“They
did—the ones as punished me. The ones as wanted me to drown
forever.”

“
And what did they punish
you for?” I asked, not liking that gleam in her eyes. I couldn’t
help thinking of the pits filled with lost souls in Minauros,
doomed to eternal agony and torment. Could this be the same kind of
thing?

“
Only just for strangling
my little sister, Mistress.” The green eyes were glowing now. “But
she was
fucking
my man—what else was I supposed to do?”

She lunged forward suddenly, flopping
halfway out of the pool lightning quick like some huge, awful fish.
Before I could step backwards, one ice cold hand had closed around
my ankle.

“
What are you doing? Let
me go!” I grabbed on to Kurex’s stirrup and tried to pull away from
the girl in the pool but her grip was horribly strong. Slowly but
surely I felt my hold on the stirrup loosening.

“
I don’t think so,
Mistress.” The girl didn’t sound so pitiful anymore. Her teeth had
stopped chattering and her eyes were glowing like two poison stars.
“I think you’re going to join me.”

“
No…
no!”
I gasped but the stirrup
slipped from my hands and then I was sliding across the frozen
ground, being dragged into the icy pool by the vengeful soul.
“Let…me…go!” I snapped, kicking out at her with my free foot. She
only laughed and dodged. Even when I did manage to connect, she
simply shook off the force of my kick and kept dragging.

I twisted wildly when I
felt the icy water touch my feet and then my ankles and calves.
This was all happening so
fast!
It hadn’t even been a whole minute since I’d
slipped off Kurex’s back to answer what I thought was a cry for
help. Now I was about to be drowned for my foolishness.

Hadn’t Laish told me I should trust no one
but him? And to keep to myself if we were ever separated? And what
had I done? Ignored his orders yet again. I swore to myself if I
could somehow get out of this I would listen to him and do what he
said.

But even as I made the promise, I was
already waist deep in freezing water and the girl was wrapping icy
fingers around my throat.

“
No!” I tried to pry her
fingers from around my neck but as before, her grip was
supernaturally strong. I wished I knew some of the harsh language
Laish used—what he had called words of power—but I didn’t. I was
all alone with no one to help me.

“
Not quite alone,”
whispered a voice in my head…or was it my ear?
For some reason I found myself looking back up at Kurex who was
stamping restively. The girl’s attack on me had been so sudden I
didn’t think he’d even realized what exactly was going on. But he
was just an animal—could he help me?

If I’d been raised with horses or dogs—the
kinds of animals that rescue or guard their owners—I might have
called for him at once. But I had always been a cat person and
cats, while nice, aren’t likely to fight off a burglar for you or
try to drag you from a burning building. Still, I had to try—Kurex
was my only hope.

“
Kurex!” I gasped, trying
to squeeze my voice out though I was getting less and less air with
the angry girl’s fingers wrapped around my throat. “Kurex, help!
Here, boy—help!”

He turned at once and seemed to see the
situation for the first time. With an angry, ringing neigh, he
aimed one dinner plate-sized front hoof at the girl. One sharp kick
–which looked like a black blur from my point of view—and the grip
around my neck loosened.

Kurex kicked again and the girl’s hands
slipped away entirely. Her poison green eyes lost their spark and
rolled up in her head. One side of her face was caved in and
blackish blood poured from her nostrils and the corner of her
mouth.

“
G-good b-boy,” I gasped
at Kurex, my teeth chattering. As the girl sank beneath the glassy
surface of the pool, I scrabbled at the icy, snow-packed ground,
trying to pull myself up. But I was so weak and cold I could make
no headway. Fighting the girl seemed to have taken the last of my
energy. I could feel myself slipping backwards, unable to get out.
Maybe I would drown here after all, even without the murderous soul
to pull me down…

Kurex gave another ringing neigh and bent
down to nuzzle me anxiously with his huge nose.

“
S-sorry, boy,” I gasped
and the words seemed to be coming from far away.
“C-can’t…”

Then his huge head moved and I felt
something clamp on to the back of my sodden green gown. I gasped as
I felt myself lifted and dragged out of the freezing pool by an
unseen force. Suddenly I understood—the big horse had my dress in
his teeth and was pulling me to safety.

He deposited me gently on the ground between
his front hooves and then nosed me again. But for a moment all I
could do was lie there. I was chilled to the bone and the bottom
half of me was so numb I could barely feel my feet and legs. Kurex
nosed me again, snorting anxiously.

“
You have to get
up,”
whispered a little voice in my ear.
“
You have to or you’ll die here in this
dreadful place. Get up, Gwendolyn—get up!”

“
I can’t,” I told it,
wondering if I was talking to myself or someone else. “I just
can’t…I’m so tired. So tired…”

“
What about your
grandmother and your sister—the ones you love? The ones you’re
going to save? What about Laish? Get up for them, even if you can’t
for yourself,”
the soft voice
urged.

“
Laish is dead,” I
whispered and fresh, hot tears ran down my frozen cheeks. But
somehow I found the strength to crawl to my hands and knees and
from there, with the help of Kurex’s bridle, I was finally able to
stand.

Clambering up onto his broad back in my
present half-frozen state without help would have been impossible.
Luckily there was a rock half buried in the snow a dozen yards
ahead that was just the right height. I somehow scrambled onto its
slippery surface and from there I was able to throw one leg across
the Demon-steed’s broad back. Then I sat there, clinging to the
saddle, freezing and miserable and not knowing what to do next.

Kurex snorted inquiringly and turned his
head to look at me with one large eye.

“
I don’t care,” I told him
tiredly. “Go where you want. See if you can find us someplace warm,
that’s all I ask.”

He snorted again and began moving, once more
picking his way carefully down a path only he could see.
Personally, I was glad everything was covered with snow as the
plains of Minauros had been covered with sand. If there were
thousands of pools filled with eternally-drowning murderers and
murderesses on this vast tract of frozen waste, I didn’t want to
know about it. I simply bent my body as close to Kurex’s warm neck
as I could get and let him take me where he wanted.

After what seemed like hours but might only
have been minutes, the big horse came to a stop and I heard him
snort again. Forcing myself to look up, I saw a crude wooden shack
set on a little bit of raised ground. Was this what passed for
shelter here in Stygia? Well, at least it would be out of the
freezing wind which was whipping against my numb legs and turning
the folds of my wet dress to ice.

Kurex snorted again and I patted his
neck.

“
Good boy. Thank you—this
is good.”

I half slid, half fell off
his back and stumbled to the icy ground. There was a little,
well-worn path leading up to the cabin. It had a thin dusting of
snow and I saw cloven hoof prints leading away from it. Perhaps it
belonged to some kind of shepherd who kept sheep or goats?
Or maybe something much worse,
whispered an ominous voice in the back of my
head.

But I couldn’t afford to be afraid of what
might be behind the crude wooden door of the little shack. If I
stayed out here in the punishing wind which whipped snowflakes
against my cheeks I was going to freeze to death.

Forcing myself forward, I climbed the small
path, keeping my eyes on the ground, taking one step at a time. I
had a moment of dull amazement when I realized that both my little
black ballet flats were still on, despite my dip in the Drowning
Pool. Wow, that was nice anyway. Or it would be if they weren’t
sloshing with icy water.

Finally I reached the wooden door and
reached for the latch. I swung it open as quietly as I could, not
sure what to expect.

What greeted my eyes was a one-room living
space—a lot like the small, dark cabins you see on those pioneer
reenactment farms where everyone wears period clothes and actually
churns butter. There was a bed in one corner—thankfully empty, a
table with two crude wooden stools on the other side of the room
and—this was what finally drew me inside—a fireplace.

There was no fire in the grate but there was
wood in an untidy stack nearby. Calling fire is one of the first
bits of magic a witch learns and it doesn’t take any special
ceremonies or paraphernalia. As tired and frozen as I was, I
thought I could manage to call a spark. And after that, if the wood
was good and dry, the fire would take care of itself.

“
Hello?” I said as loudly
as I could, looking around as I stood just inside the door. The
room looked empty but I wanted to be sure. “Hello, is anyone
home?”

Silence was my only answer and I was
satisfied at last that I could stay here—at least for a while.

“
Okay, Kurex,” I said,
turning to speak to the big horse. “This is good. It’s kind of
small but we might be able to squeeze you inside if you duck
and—”