The Crossing (Immortals) (35 page)

"I want it. Can you get me downriver?"

"I could, but that's not where you want to go."

"It's not?"

"No." He pointed his tail at the river's far bank. "You
want to go across."

Right past the Furies. "How?"

He looked her up and down. "Not by flying, that's for
certain. Those Furies will tear you apart in half a second."

"Are you saying I have to swim across?"

"Wouldn't survive that, either."

"Is there a boat, then?"

Angel scratched an armpit. "Nope. No boat."

Artemis's patience was growing thin. "Then how?"

The little demon grinned. "Thought you'd never ask! You've got to jump from rock to rock. Shouldn't be all that
difficult with that bird body you've got."

"But... there are corpses on every rock! And Furies attacking them! There's no way they'll just let me by."

"Yes, well, I admit, you'll likely get a nasty gouge or
two. But it's really your only hope. Keep your head down
and don't let them blind you. That would be unfortunate."

Gods. "And after I get across? What do I do then?"

"There's a cave. A tunnel, really, in the cliff on the other
side of the river. You'll see it. It leads to Level Nine. The
pit of the betrayers." He grinned. "Ready?"

Not by half. She flapped a wing. "Lead on."

"Oh, I'm not going."

"What? I thought you said Malachi told you to lead
me-"

"No. He said to help you. Which I've done. I'm not
holding your hand on the way across. What do I look like,
a damned nursemaid?"

"All right. Just tell me, where's the best place to start the
crossing?"

"There." A sweep of his tail indicated a flat boulder near
shore. Three mauled corpses clung to it. "No sudden
movements, though. The Furies see motion more than
anything else. They're not the most intelligent of creatures. But beware," he added with a smirk. "Not all the
damned are idiots."

With that, the little demon vanished.

Artemis blinked at the place where he'd been. All that
was left of the bizarre little creature was a puff of smoke.
Shaking her head, she inched her way to the riverbank, her
raven's claws slipping on slime-covered rock. Angel was
right; when she moved at a snail's pace, the Furies took little notice.

She approached the bubbling shoreline gingerly. The flat
boulder was too far for a human to jump, but one flap of her wings would be enough to get her there. She grimaced.
So much for "no sudden movements."

No sense in waiting, either. Spreading her wings, she
made the jump.

The nearest Fury screeched. Artemis hunched motionless on the rock until the air-bound demon turned its attention elsewhere. Only then did she begin to move, with
excruciating slowness, to the far end of the boulder.

One of the corpses clinging to the rock spat an obscenity in her direction. She steered as far from the damned
man as she could; a moment later, he became preoccupied
with beating off a Fury. Artemis's short hop to the next
rock landed her within reach of a snarling female corpse.
She rolled, but not before losing a handful of tail feathers.

Tail unbalanced, leaping to the third and fourth stones
was difficult. She was halfway across the river now. She
navigated the fifth stone without incident, but on the sixth
she landed badly. The awkward movement caught the attention of a diving Fury. It darted toward her, its sharp
beak stabbing her under her ribs. Desperate, she jabbed
her raven's beak into the demon-bird's eye. Yes. The thing
took off, hooting in pain.

But the wound the Fury had inflicted burned. As she
jumped the next few stones, the pain only amplified, making it harder and harder to dodge the grasping corpses.
The damned men clutched at her legs, her wings, her
neck. Freed, she thrust her beak right and left, and even
managed to squeak a death spell. She jumped to the next
stone-blessedly vacant-and crouched, gasping.

The Fury's gash seeped poison into her soul, disrupting Artemis's own magic. Her shape-shifting spell began
to unravel. She still had a distance to go to reach the opposite shore-two stone, three jumps. Damn. If she lost
her raven shape, she'd have to swim the distance between
them.

She lurched on and off the first stone, narrowly avoiding a Fury's bite. Her landing on the second stone fell short. As
she scrabbled to avoid the boiling river, a rough hand closed
on her flapping wing.

She heard a sickening crack. The next instant, she
nearly passed out on a rush of pain.

"Gotcha, birdie!"

The corpse that had caught her let out a barking laugh.
Panicked, Artemis snapped at her new attacker. The
damned man was hideous-rotten, ragged, blackened.
Skeletal fingers crushed fragile raven's bones.

The pain snapped the last strands of the shape-shifting
spell. The change came quickly, stunning the corpse into
sputtering silence. Taking advantage of his shock, Artemis
kicked hard, smashing the sole of her boot into the
corpse's face.

The blow snapped the man's neck. His skull, mouth
open and screaming, rolled into the river with a thick
plop. His body dove after it. Artemis's sigh of relief didn't
last. Her struggle with the corpse had attracted a trio of
Furies.

The monsters dove. Artemis gasped a repulse spell.
Cradling her useless arm, she dropped into a defensive roll
and came up in a crouch.

The fiery pain in her side nearly caused her to topple
into the river. She held firm, eyeing the last jump to the
shore. Not so very far-on a good day, with a running
start, she could've made it easily. In her present condition...

Gritting her teeth, she summoned every last ounce of
strength and jumped. Her boots splashed on the edge of
the filth lapping the shore. Staggering forward, she collapsed on relatively clean ground. The Furies, howling,
drew up short at the river's edge.

She dragged herself across the rocky beach, intent on
leaving the Furies' territory behind. A steep cliff face
loomed before her. Just as Angel promised, there was a cave.

Not allowing herself time to think, she crawled into the
opening. Darkness enfolded her like a moldy cloak. Rising
to her feet, she leaned her left arm against the cave wall.
Her right arm hung heavily at her side. Broken. The
wound under her ribs burned. Fiery pain stabbed with
every breath.

She stumbled forward, the cave growing darker and
darker with each step. Her magic was gone. She couldn't
even call the faintest glow of hellfire. The path went on
and on, twisting and turning, always descending. For a
long stretch of time, she encountered no impediment to
her slow, painful progress.

Then she turned one sharp corner and drew up short.

A pair of glowing red eyes lit the darkness before her.

Artemis screamed as the creature charged. She flung herself to one side, her body slamming hard against stone.
The thing thundered past, the heat of its massive body
snapping like a whip. She fell, gasping out a curse when she
rolled onto her injured arm.

She tried to gain her feet, but fell back to her knees. Her
strength was gone. Her magic was spent. The death shield
protecting her life essence had crumbled.

The creature pounded to a halt in the darkness. She
heard it turn back, snorting. Its red eyes blinked into view.

And she didn't even have enough strength left to move.

Was this how she was fated to die? Alone, in pain,
trapped in the bowels of Hell, so close to Zander, yet powerless to reach him? Not knowing what had happened to
Mac?

A growl vibrated; the ground shook as the monster advanced. And still she couldn't move. She closed her eyes
and braced for the blow...

A grunt, and an enraged howl. Then a thundering
crash, and the monster slammed into the ground. A spurt
of flames burst from the creature's mouth. She caught a
glimpse of a grotesque figure, muscled legs and torso of a
man, hideous head of a bull. Steam hissed from the Minotaur's snout. Blood spurted from its skull; Artemis caught
a glimpse of an open gash on the side of its head. A bloody boulder lay nearby. Someone-or something-had attacked the beast from behind.

The monster lurched to its feet and spun to face the
threat. With a roar, it spewed fire into the passage.
Artemis could see nothing beyond the Minotaur's massive
body. When there was no immediate riposte, Artemis
feared that whoever-or whatever-had assaulted the
monster from behind had been burned to a crisp. Grunting satisfaction, the Minotaur swung to face Artemis.

Too soon.

Again the beast was struck from behind. It staggered,
howling. It fell to its knees, then pitched forward with a
crash. It shuddered once, then lay still.

Without the Minotaur's fiery breath to light the cavern,
Artemis was plunged back into darkness. She strained to
hear the creature who'd felled the bull; whatever it was,
she had no doubt it would soon come for her. Residual
adrenaline shot into her limbs. She lurched to her feet and
stumbled deeper into the cave.

Quick footsteps followed. A familiar male voice bit off a
curse. "Bugger it all, Artemis, is that you? Are you hurt?"

She stopped dead. "Mac?"

His voice traveled as if from a great distance. "Yes, it's me.
Hold on a bit. This bloody great beast is in my way...."

She listened as he jumped down from the Minotaur's
body. Then he was sprawled on the ground beside her,
drawing her into the circle of his arms. An orb of green
light appeared above his head, bathing him with a muted
glow. His beautiful face, streaked with grime, swam in the
sheen of tears that suddenly welled in her eyes. He'd lost
his shirt somewhere. He felt warm and safe and alive. All
the things she thought she would never be again.

"Damn, but that thing was ugly." His tone was light, but
he scanned her with a worried gaze. "Not even a mother
could love a face like that."

"Oh, Mac."

He squeezed her, then drew back when she cried out.
"You're hurt."

"A corpse broke my arm. And a Fury gouged my side. It
burns like anything."

He ran an assessing hand over her injuries, then touched
her head. She felt him searching, inside. When he spoke, his
voice was grave. "I got here just in time, then."

"But... how did you get here? Malachi-?"

His expression hardened. "Bloody unpleasant bloke,
that demon friend of yours."

"He's not my friend."

"No? The two of you seemed chummy enough."

She hugged her torso with her good arm- "I hoped
you'd get away from him."

"But you really didn't believe it. You have more faith in
that twisted demon's powers than you do in mine."

"Mac, I-"

"And you would have been right," he continued quietly.
"I'd still be Malachi's prisoner if not for Leanna."

"Your sister? I don't understand."

"Malachi thought to taunt me by assaulting Leanna in
front of me. He'd thought he'd broken her, but my sister
is half Sidhe. She knows more about magic than he realized. More than I realized. Together, we drove Malachi
off."

"You defeated him?"

"No. He slunk back to Shadowhaven."

"And Leanna?"

"She's on her way back to the human world."

"You could have gone with her."

"Yes. I might have."

She could feel his gaze on her. She couldn't bring herself to look up. "Why didn't you?"

"You're a smart lass. You tell me."

She did look at him then. "Pity?"

He laughed. "Come on, love, you can do better than
that."

"Duty?"

"No.;'

"Then... I have no idea, Mac. The gods know you
didn't follow me because I deserve your help. And you're
too sane to have saved me just to enact some crazed plan
of revenge for all I've done to you. So... I really have no
idea why you came after my sorry butt."

"Artemis." He grasped her hands and gently unclenched her fist. Once he'd succeeded, he threaded their
fingers together.

His touch made her guilt burn. She tried to tug her
hand away, but he only tightened his grip. With his free
hand, he tilted her chin, forcing her to look at him. The
green of his eyes deepened. She felt the brush of his magic
against hers.

His expression turned grave. "You've been in Hell too
long, Artemis. Far too long. You could lose the-" He cut
off. "You could lose your life essence. Completely. It's
bleeding from your soul."

"I know. My shielding broke. I don't have enough
strength to erect a new one."

"It's all right now. I'm here. I'll protect you." He murmured a word, and she felt a cocoon of well-being wrap
around her. She sighed and let herself lean against his
strength. It was only then that she'd realized what he'd done.

She went still. "That... that light over our heads...
that's elflight, isn't it? And that spell you just cast-it's a
life-magic spell. A healing charm."

He grinned. "I was wondering when you'd notice, love."