The Veil (44 page)

I limped my way over to the port side of I’orin. As soon as I did, a stream of golden water jetted upwards from where I had seen the dark mound, and I saw an impossibly large fin flick out of the waves and then nothing but the horizon. The creature gave a final departing sound that resonated with such a high-pitch frequency that made everyone – including me – go quite literally weak at the knees. I sank down to the deck and tried to catch my breath as the energy left me.

Delagio, Hollie and Danny had been standing nearby. They noticed me for the first time and ran over, concern filling their faces.

“Alex, you okay bud?” said Delagio.

“I’ll live. But I don’t get it…I was about to kill her and then…” I thought about the weird visions.

“Then what?”

“I-I don’t really know.”

“I don’t think the new arrival wanted you to kill her, mate,” said Danny.

I frowned. “What new arrival?”

Delagio pointed a thumb at where the Lightwardens were still praying and chanting. “That’s a pretty big clue right there, bud. What would make trained Luminar soldiers – who worship a water god – drop to their knees and pray in the middle of a battle?”

My mouth fell open as it dawned on my tired brain what we had all just witnessed – a force more powerful than both combined, forcing the battle to end by showing me what my spontaneous choices could have lead to. Showing me how both paths – either sooner or later – would have lead to death if the omniscient being hadn’t intervened.

“Cetus.”

27

   Gabriella

It took me less than five minutes to pick the chains.

I didn’t allow hope to enter my mind until the moment all the binds were off me and I had felt my way through the darkness towards the flickering glow of the torch in the passage beyond. I knelt down to pick the lock of the adamantine bars that kept me prisoner. As soon as I heard the familiar
click,
I slid the pick agonizingly back into my cheek to prepare for the high likelihood of getting caught. When I turned the latch and felt it release, my breath snagged in my chest. Trying to keep calm and focused, I crept forward – keeping low – and inched the bars open.

I carefully checked each direction.
Empty. Go.

My muscles were still at the mercy of the fading fever, and my legs ached as I hunkered down and briskly tiptoed to a flaming torch fixed to an arched column. I rose up and broke it free of its fixings, holding it at arms length and using it to help light the gloomy passage. I turned to the left to see that the massive catacomb-like prison kept going for an eternity, vanishing into the darkness.

Just how many people have they got down here?

I moved to the right, leaning in at every cell and counting my steps. I’d remembered what Physicker Agorias had said about just escaping myself.
Screw that. I’m not leaving my friends behind.

“Troy? Grey?” I hissed into the silence as I passed by each cell. Figures inside started to stir, grimy faces shielding their eyes from the glare of the torch. Once their sight had adjusted and they realised what was happening, they pleaded for me to help them, their voices getting louder and more hysterical.

Merda!

I blinked away tears as I sped up, rushing away from the cacophony of desperate voices that begged for freedom. Pure guilt filled me up as I moved past the remaining cells without stopping to check who was inside. I couldn’t bear to leave Troy and Grey behind, but now I understood the Physiker’s words
. If I try and rescue others right now, all I’m going to do is get myself recaptured or killed.
Plus I couldn’t just free anyone…I couldn’t even be sure they would be on my side.
Being locked away for a long time can do awful things to someone’s mind.

But that didn’t mean for one second that I was just going to abandon Grey and Troy, or any of the other poor souls who had found themselves in the godforsaken prison.
I’m going to find my way back to Alex, and then we are going to come back and raze this whole fucking place to the ground, killing every guard in here...just like I promised.
The thought was so powerful and full of anger that I had to force myself to calm down.
Focus. You’re no good to anyone if you don’t get out of here.

I half-ran to the spiral staircase, doing my best to keep my footsteps light. My heart was pounding against my ribcage as I made my way up the stone steps. When I reached the top, I rested the torch against the wall and knelt down, using its flickering light to see the keyhole. As I worked the pick through the lock, feeling it push the tumblers into position I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching from the other side.

Damn!

I grabbed the torch and rushed past the door to a small space between its hinges and the adjacent wall, pressing myself flat against the stone. Sweat poured from my forehead as I held my breath and tried to block as much of the light from the torch as I could. I heard the footsteps draw closer and then the click
of the lock being opened. The door swung open towards me and I saw the side profile of a Pitguard, as he appeared a few feet away. I kept my breath held, waiting for him to turn and spot me, my knuckles white as they clutched the torch. But he turned away, his cloak sweeping out behind him as he descended the steps, holding his own flaming torch and muttering something under his breath. I waited until the door had almost closed and then jammed my fingers into the gap, swinging it back open and slipping through, before closing it gently behind me.

Once again I found myself in the small bridge with the exposed edges that led to the water trap, where my evil captors had almost drowned me to death.

And right ahead of me was another Pitguard.

He was facing away, his hand pressed to his ear, talking in Th’ail on some kind of communication system. “Yes, Adraxal is doing the sweep of the Eastern Quadrant now. All quiet, just waiting on collection orders.”

He nodded a few times and then lowered his hand away from his ear and started walking towards the door in front of him. The soldier part of me kicked in and before I knew what I was doing, I was sprinting towards the guard. He heard my footsteps just as I leapt into the air, turning as I landed on his shoulders and clamped my knees either side of his neck. With a scream, I thrust the flaming torch into his face and held it there. He tried to grab at his face, but I battered his hands away and grabbed his throat with my other hand, strangling his cries.

A spiked fist smashed into my spine and I gasped, temporarily stunned. The Pitguard tore me off his shoulders and threw me to the floor; the torch skittered out of my grip and rolled towards the edge of the bridge. I landed on my feet but my weak legs gave out and I collapsed down to the stone. The Pitguard had ripped off his gauntlets and was doubled over, clawing at his burning face and trying to douse the flames.

“I can’t see!” he wailed. “I can’t see!”

Using the wall to support me, I climbed back to my feet and ran towards him again. It was when I got closer, I saw the stitched on ear and realised it was the Pitguard who had hit me in the operating theatre, and the one who had thrown me into the drowning pit. I grabbed at his horns and used them as levers, jumping up with an extended knee as I dragged his head down. The blow caught him under the chin and he staggered backwards. I held on tight to his horns, driving my knees into his bowed over face again and again,, knocking the consciousness out of him. He swung out wildly with his fists and landed a few blows, but I just kept hitting him. Eventually his attacks became weaker and I let his horns go as he collapsed at my feet. His face was a blackened, blistered mess, one of his eyes burned beyond recovery and the other bloodshot and streaked with pulsing veins. Gritting my teeth, I leaned over and used all the strength I had in my aching body to drag him by his horns towards the precipice of the bridge.

  I moved around to the side of him and knelt down, snatching his keys and a curved blade from his belt and then stood back up, pressing my boot to his side.

“Time to clean you up,” I hissed.

“No!” he croaked, raising a hand and staring blankly upwards as smoke coiled from his ruined face.

With a heave of exertion I heaved my foot against his body and he rolled right over the edge of the bridge. A moment later I heard a splash from deep below. I hunched over myself and took several deep breaths, trying to stop myself from throwing up as dizziness swam through my head.

Come on Ella, you need to go.

I collected the torch and unsteadily climbed back to my feet, moving down the bridge until I reached the door at the end. I tried several keys from the keyring I’d taken from the Pitguard, swearing under my breath as each one either didn’t fit the lock, or failed to turn. Eventually I found the correct one and the latch clicked open. I peered around the opening and ducked back, my heart thundering.

I’d seen a central area with several routes leading off to different areas and levels. I’d also seen four Pitguards. Two had been dragging a prisoner Goblin in chains, who fought against them and begged for his life. The others had been standing around talking near a set of stone steps, smoking something from narrow pipes and chatting.

I can’t take on four Corporeal Lamiae right now. Not on my own. I hope to god they didn’t see me.

I ducked down and peered through the keyhole – as I should have done in the first place – my hands coiled around the torch and blade. The Pitguards carried on talking for a few minutes as I waited, acutely aware that at any moment another Pitguard could appear from the opposite direction.
If they see me before I notice them, they’ll have more than enough time to call reinforcements before I can kill them.

Come on!
I willed the lingering Pitguards.

Eventually they stopped smoking, blowing the final puffs of dark, purple smoke from their pipes, and then dropping them down into a grated hole in the floor – probably straight onto a prisoner in one of the cells. With a quick nod to each other they parted, one climbing the stairs and the other heading to the right, where the previous Pitguards had carried the pleading Goblin. I opened the door as much as I dared and peered from side to side.

Clear.

I slipped out and moved left, following the Physicker’s directions. The new area was a vast marbled hallway lined by tall statues of various Umbra leaders in warrior poses – carved from adamantine and looking like solidified oil – separated into sections by sweeping archways. Huge chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, bathing the area with their candlelight and creating dark shadows at the edges. I ditched the torch in a flaming bowl held by one of the warrior statues and then kept to the safety of darkness, creeping forward down the hallway as fast as I could without creating any noise, and using the small alcoves behind the statues to hide myself when I needed to rest.

When I was over halfway down the long passage, I heard footsteps approaching from around a corner and ducked behind one of the statues. Gripping the blade tight in my hand, I waited until The Pitguard had passed and then stepped out behind him, wrapping my hand around his waist and pulling him behind the statue before he could react. I raked the blade across his throat and kicked out at his legs, bringing him down to his knees. Wrapping my hand under his chin, I wrenched his head backwards, ripping open the wound, and sending blood jetting onto the alcove wall. He made a gurgling sound as the life seeped out of him. I kept holding him, my teeth clenched together as his twitching body finally fell silent and still. I let him go and stood back up, staring down at the mess in front of me, confused.

That was risky. I could have let him walk right past and slipped by unnoticed. Why did I just kill him?

The answer wasn’t hard to find.

I want them to suffer for what they’ve done to me…for what they are doing to my friends and everyone else here.
I stared down at my blade – which dripped dark blood down onto the marble – and made a decision.
No more. Not unless it’s necessary. Don’t let your anger take over. Just get the hell out.

I wiped the dripping blade on the dead Pitguard’s cloak and then added his blade to the other, feeling better with a weapon in each hand. Moving out from behind the alcove, I stuck to the shadows once more as I moved down the long hallway towards a door at the end. Once again my back was completely exposed as I knelt down and tried different keys. My hands were trembling as I stuck each one into the lock and a few times I almost dropped them.

“Stop!”

My muscles jerked as I heard the harsh voice from behind me. I turned and saw a Pitguard who had emerged from a door I hadn’t noticed further down the passage. He pressed a hand to his ear and started shouting into it. “We have an escaped prisoner in the East Quadrant. I repeat we have an escaped prisoner!” He started running towards me, his footsteps beating against the polished stone.

Merda, Merda!

I kept trying keys as he drew closer. I could hear him nearing, screaming at me to stop. I jammed a key in and it connected. Without stopping, I wrenched the door open and piled through, using the same key to turn the lock behind me. I barely registered that I was in another, similar but empty hub area before breaking off left once again and sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me towards a set of stairs at the end.

I jumped down the steps three at a time, losing my footing towards the end and slamming a shoulder into the wall at the bottom. I gasped in pain and then turned, sprinting down a long dusty tunnel dusted with red sand and lined by fences made from tall wooden stakes bound together. From somewhere nearby I could hear the collective sound of thousands of people, chanting and baying. The words of the Physicker came back to me.

You will no doubt hear crowds and see a set of large doors, but do not go through them.

I kept sprinting down the tunnel, sweeping past countless doors at either side. At the end of the passageway I could see a Pitguard, running towards me and drawing his blade. I pushed myself harder until he was right on me and then slid to the ground, passing underneath his legs. I jerked up with both blades, catching him in the groin. He yelled in agony and stumbled. I climbed back to my feet and spun around, bringing the weapons down onto his neck like an executioner. It wasn’t a clean hit – the blades caught bone and stuck there – but it was enough. His lifeless body collapsed into a kneeling position, and I only had enough time to pull one of the blades free before I heard the screaming voices of an approaching horde and saw a sea of faces running down the tunnel after me.

I ran as fast as my tired legs could carry me, the booming shudder of thousands of nearby voices pulsing through my body. I reached the end and saw the large doors at the end that the Physicker had warned me about. As he had said, there was a much smaller door made from wood to the side of it. It didn’t even have a lock, so I ripped it open and sprinted through. On the other side was a last, final corridor made of stone. I could see daylight from beyond, pure and brilliant, and desperate hope rushed through me.