First Comes The One Who Wanders (20 page)

But since she was still alive, and now that she was away from Rengailai’s all seeing eyes, she needed to find a way out of her present predicament. Probing the magic that held the shackles in place, she looked for a weakness in the binding. The words that bound the chains were old words of magic, strong because of age. She smiled grimly. They were old, but they were words she’d heard before. Slowly, she went over the pattern until she could repeat it. Then, she started working on a chant that would loosen the bonds. Each word needed to be matched with power, power for power to restore the balance.

Solein spent a good deal of time in Neothera teaching her words of power, but it had been a slow process. Each word built upon another and the magik had to be strong enough to control the power.

As she worked on the chains, her mind went back to Rengailai and the masters at the school. What surprised her now was how any of the masters believed there was one among them who could defeat Rengailai. There was no possibility it would be much of a contest. What if she chose a human as the champion? If no crafter had a chance, what chance would a human have? They must have misinterpreted the prophecy or the prophecy was false.

What if the prophecy was false? thought Leilas bleakly. Where did that leave her? She’d begun to embrace the idea that she was chosen by Jovan to help restore Preterlandis. If she wasn’t chosen, then what was she supposed to do with her life? All her plans and hopes for the future were gone, lost in the battle at Dirth.

Shaking her head to clear it of those disturbing thoughts, Leilas began a chant of unbinding using some unfamiliar words, along with the others. She could feel the dark power resisting her and steeled herself against it. It would be easier if she could use her hands to help control the power. But since they were shackled to the wall, she did her best without them. She repeated the chant for a second time and then a third. When she fell silent, sweat glistened on her face, which was pale from the energy spent, but the chains had fallen from her hands.

After a few moments rest, Leilas rose and began to examine her prison. Her family was as safe as she could make them for now. She’d kept her word by coming to this place. Now, she needed to flee before Rengailai changed his mind about killing her, or before the one who’d been promised the pleasure of killing her arrived.

She'd walked the perimeter twice and found no sign of a door or any kind of opening. Yet, here she was inside. There was some way into this dungeon. If there was a way in, there was a way out.

As she searched the walls again, she pushed her consciousness out into the stone, looking for imperfections or cracks. She worked slowly, but tirelessly, since she didn’t know how much time she had until Rengailai came looking for her. Hot, tired and thirsty, she reached the point where she’d started with no hint of a door. Sinking to the floor, she let her head fall back as she rested. A symbol on the ceiling of the cell caught her attention. It was barely perceptible, perhaps not at all to one not schooled in magic. Where had she seen that symbol before?

Now that she’d found it, it seemed to call to her and she found herself on her feet moving to the center of the cell. Then she smiled as she remembered where she'd seen the symbol. How poetically just that the answer to her problem had been found in Rengailai’s own library. Without giving the ritual conscious thought, she let her memory guide her. Hands outstretched, she created a symbol in the air as she spoke a single word in the ancient tongue. A thunderous click echoed off the stone walls and a whole section of stone turned ninety degrees into a narrow tunnel.

Leilas didn’t waste any time moving into the tunnel. As soon as she crossed the threshold the door began to swing closed. She had no idea if she was heading for a trap or for freedom, but either was better than sitting helpless, lost in a dungeon.

Conjuring a small light, Leilas headed down the narrow corridor. She didn’t know which direction she was heading other than deeper into the earth. There were no openings on either side of the tunnel and only darkness in front and behind her.

Shivering as she moved along the stone walls, she imagined demons, lost souls and monstrous evil all around her. Despite her best effort, she couldn’t tell what was real and what was imagined. Almost in a panic, she quickened her pace to a fast trot and plunged on into the darkness. Only when she ran headlong into an iron door did she stop, and only the ache in her head brought reason back.

Gasping for air, she clutched her side and wondered what had just happened. She wasn’t the child she was when she went through the Echoes and she’d been through far worse than this in Neothera. Reaching out to brace herself on the door, she could feel the fear begin to rise within her again. Snatching her hand away, she felt herself grow calmer.

Leilas smiled grimly to herself. Driving your prisoner crazy with fear was one way to keep them in the dungeon, if they were clever enough to find the first door. Now that she was aware of it, she could feel the spell all around her, even in the floor where she was standing. It was an incredibly strong spell. One she knew she couldn’t counter. Instead, she took a deep breath, mustered all the courage she could find and pressed her shoulder against the door. Fear poured over her as she struggled with the heavy iron blocking the opening. She was covered in sweat and trembling in terror when the door finally gave way against her pressure.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, she felt the pull of the spell begin to fade. Walking further into the room to put distance between herself and the spell she looked around as she gathered her wits about her. The room appeared to be a square alcove with many doors leading in different directions. Although she couldn’t see it, Leilas could feel danger lurking nearby. The same feeling she’d had on the trail when the dark magiks overtook them. Desperately, she looked around for a weapon. She was more content to rely on her physical prowess than trust to magic in the stronghold of Rengailai.

The alcove was cluttered with trash, some of it relatively new. So, someone or something lurked here. Scattered within the trash, Leilas found bones and pieces of armor. Most of it was useless, but perhaps she could find enough pieces to come up with some kind of protection. As she scavenged, she slowly became aware of a soft scurrying coming from one of the corridors behind her.

More than one, whatever they were, she thought as she began to search more quickly. So far, she'd found a helmet, with a dent, but not unusable, a dull and poorly made short sword, which she sheathed in her belt, and a chain link vest, –which must have belonged to a woman, because it fit her well and was in good shape, but still had been left as trash.

The scurrying had reached the door as Leilas grabbed a chair and smashed it against the floor. The sound seemed deafening in the empty room and she was certain whoever was coming now knew someone was on the other side of the door. Breaking the leg away from the smashed chair, Leilas stood facing the door wielding the chair leg as a club. It would be more useful among a group of attackers than a dull, short sword. Why she didn’t turn and run out one of the other doors never crossed her mind. If this was the way they were defending, this was the way she needed to go.

Not that I’m going to make it through the door, she thought grimly, as she prepared herself for a fight. This wouldn’t be like Neothera. She wouldn’t find herself alive again should one of these attackers be a crafter and manage to kill her.

But if there were no crafters, Leilas paused briefly, following this line of thought. Would any of the attackers be knowledgeable enough to know she couldn’t die? Could she fool them into believing she was dead? Would they leave her for whatever scavenged down here as they had all these others?

It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the only one she had. Throwing herself on the floor, Leilas slowed her breathing until it appeared she wasn’t breathing at all. The door was thrust open and two dozen goblins poured into the room.

Although she was sure the creatures that entered the room saw her, none stopped to determine if she was alive, dead or a danger to them. They were intent on getting through the room as quickly as they could. As they ran, they kept turning their heads to look behind them.

This wasn’t a good sign, thought Leilas, lying still. If twenty goblins were fleeing, she should be running, too.

As soon as the last goblin disappeared from view, Leilas jumped to her feet and scampered after the others through the far doorway. Whatever was coming, she’d rather not face it today.

Plunging into the dark corridor at a sprint, she slowed to a jog as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. She could hear the others still running ahead of her. And now, she could hear whatever it was they were avoiding, behind her. It sounded huge. She smiled grimly, wondering how much she was letting her imagination get away from her.

She was forced to stop at a split in the corridor. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to be calm and listen. After what seemed like an eternity, she heard the footfalls of her attackers in the right corridor. But she also felt the smallest hint of air movement from the left. Hesitating only a second, she chose the left hand and jogged on in total darkness. She could clearly hear whatever was following her now. It was moving much faster than she was through the corridor.

Leilas took ragged breaths through her bruised and sore throat which was making breathing difficult. Faster, bigger and probably in better shape, she thought. She had her doubts about whether she’d escape. But if she could escape without having to face this threat, she'd rather try. Picking up her pace, she kept moving up the corridor that was definitely climbing toward the surface now. Although she was doing her best to be quiet, her feet kept slipping on the loose shale that covered the floor. If she got out of here alive, she was definitely going to spend some time honing her survival skills. She should have paid more attention to Solein when he was trying to teach her.

His words came back to her as she gasped for air and kept moving up the steep incline. "I’m trying to teach you everything you’ll need to know to survive. I can only hope you'll remember."

He’d have been proud of her for remembering anything, while frustrated she didn’t remember it all. Leilas came to a halt and tried to catch her breath, when she noticed dim light filtering into the corridor. She could still hear footsteps following her and they showed no sign of slowing. She had no choice but to go forward. Drawing her short sword from her belt, wishing she’d kept the makeshift club, she moved toward the light.

The source of the light soon became apparent. It was sunlight filtering in from the mouth of the cave. The opening was shrouded with bushes and would be difficult to find from the forest beyond. But from this direction, it offered a stealthy escape into the woods.

After assuring herself there was no one lying in wait, Leilas moved into the forest and tried to hide her tracks as she went. She had no idea if whatever was pursuing her would continue to do so in the open. It didn’t take long to learn the answer. As she plunged through the forest, the head and shoulders of a very large, very ugly ogre appeared at the mouth of the cave. He was well armed and there was no doubt about his intentions. She wasn't leaving if he had any say in the matter. For something that was so big and ugly, the ogre moved quickly. There was no way she was going to outrun him. Leilas began to look for a spot that gave her some advantage. A more open area would favor him. She needed trees under which she could maneuver, but whose branches were too low for him.

He was almost on top of her before she found a usable area. What she wouldn’t give for a hefty morning star right about now. She could feel magic coming from him, and quickly spoke a spell of warding. It seemed odd this brute would be a dark crafter, but then lately she'd seen many things she'd thought odd.

"So, you finally decided to stand and fight," said the ogre in a voice that sounded muffled as it emerged from the oversized vocal chords. "I didn’t think you had it in you." He pulled his spiked club from off his back and faced her. He stood twice as tall and twice as wide as Leilas. He could have crushed her head with one of his hands. Leilas looked at her puny weapon and thought of bees. If they stung enough–

"Magic would seem appropriate right about now, don’t you think?"

Leilas dropped her sword out of her defensive pose at the sound of this strange voice. She spun around to find the source, but saw no one. Shaking her head, she took up her fighting stance again.

"Surely you don’t plan on fighting him without magic?"

Leilas glanced around again then looked to see if the ogre heard the voice as well. He seemed intent on her, so she assumed he wasn’t hearing voices. "I thought I’d give it a try," Leilas snapped back at the disembodied voice. "How hard can it be to kill an ogre?"

The ogre heard her words and roared in anger as he began his attack. Leilas blocked his first swing with her sword. The force knocked her backward into a tree.

"How hard can it be to kill an ogre?" repeated the voice, mocking her. "Let me think about that one for a minute."

The ogre crashed forward and took another swing. This time, Leilas let the tree block the blow. Roaring in frustration, the ogre reached around the tree to swing at Leilas again. Although he couldn’t reach her, neither could she reach him. If she moved close enough to strike at him, he'd have a straight shot at her and his first blow was enough to tell her she didn’t want to experience that again. She was fairly certain her right shoulder had been pulled out of its socket.