On the Meldon Plain (The Fourline Trilogy Book 2) (25 page)

The guard stumbled up the stairs, glancing nervously back once to find Benedict still glaring at him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Andris guided the hooded figures with gentle shoves. They stumbled across a path set close to the castle walls, then ducked under the branches of a willow tree. Nat pulled Soris’ and Annin’s hoods off and dug her fingers into the loose knots around Soris’ wrists.

Andris yanked the mask off his head. “Well done, Hermit.” His praise sent a slight flush up Benedict’s pale cheeks. Beads of perspiration clung to Andris’ forehead. He stuffed his mask away and untied the rope binding Annin’s wrists.

“Your beard,” Benedict said to Nat as he leaned against a moss-covered tree trunk.

“Thanks,” she replied and ripped it off her face. Benedict stretched over his withered limb, exposing the tall heel of one of his boots. Nat felt a pang of sympathy for him. He’d managed to walk with a straight gait since they’d encountered the guard.
His leg must be killing him,
she thought.

“No time to dawdle. Move,” Andris ordered, directing them to a shed nestled in the willow grove. Nat passed through the decrepit shed’s door. The interior smelled like stale dirt. Rows of old shovels and spades lined the walls.

“A little light, Sister.” Annin’s voice came from the darkness in front of her. Nat released her orb, and it illuminated piles of rusted, broken rakes that choked the back of the shed. Annin squinted in the sudden light, then disappeared behind an old wheelbarrow. The sound of splintering wood made Nat cringe.
Just get us into the tunnels before someone finds us.

“Keep it down, Annin,” Andris growled.

Annin emerged from behind the wheelbarrow, covered in dirt. “It’s not my fault some Sister sealed over the hatch. Watch your head as you go down,” she advised.

Soris peered into the dark stairwell in the floor of the shed. The orb spun around and descended into the hole, creating a patch of light in the darkness. He looked at Annin. “Snakes?”

She nodded and he jumped down the stairs, disappearing into the inky darkness. Nat moved to follow, but Annin stuck out her hand, pressing against Nat’s chest.

“Give him a minute, he’s clearing the unfriendlies from the path.” She smiled crookedly. Nat shuddered, thinking of the tunnel eater.

Soris’ face appeared below them. His Nala eye glinted in the light of Nat’s orb. “It’s clear.” He stepped to the side. Benedict eased himself down the stairs, steadying himself against the packed dirt walls. Andris disappeared into the hole after Benedict.

“Your turn.” Annin pointed to the opening. Nat took a deep breath and climbed down the crumbling steps. Roots wound their way through the dirt walls of the tunnel. She ducked under one that grew across the earthen ceiling. Its hairlike fibers clung to her hood and smeared her forehead with an earthy streak. She heard the sound of the hatch falling into place and Annin’s soft footsteps. Annin sidled past and crouched on the dirt floor in front of Andris. Nat directed her orb to hover over Annin’s head.

“This tunnel leads beneath the Representatives’ Building.” Annin drew a rectangle with a line running underneath it in the dirt floor. “The passage splits here.” She marked a spot below the opposite side of the Representatives’ Building with her finger. “We’ll take the tunnel leading into the service quarters of the castle here and end at this spot, the old Sisters’ accommodations.” She leaned back on her heels. “Those rooms are adjacent to the courtyard where the Chemist has his quarters. This route should get us as close as we can go without walking the halls of the castle, I think,” she added.

“You
think
? I thought you knew these tunnels like the back of your hand.” Andris wiped a smudge of dirt from his brow.

“I do.” Annin’s lips curled down. “But so does Emilia. She may have divulged their location.” Her words hung in the air. “Let me lead.” She poked her finger at Andris. “I make the decisions on where and when to move forward. I can tell if something’s askew.”

His face twitched.
The notion that someone else would control the progress of this mission and decide its direction must be killing him,
Nat thought.

“Not advisable. You should lead, Andris. They can’t be trusted,” Benedict said nervously. Nat rubbed her forehead, wondering why he continually acted as if Soris and Annin weren’t there or couldn’t hear him. “There’s a possibility they could lead us—”

“They could lead us where?” Annin thrust her face in front of Benedict. His eyes grew wide.

“Do you think this has all been a ruse to get you to a secret Nala lair?” Soris said to the Hermit. “If we’d wanted you dead—”

“Enough.” Andris ushered Annin and Soris down the cramped tunnel.

Benedict huffed. “Did you hear? He’s threatening me!” He waved his hands, casting snakelike shadows against the dirt walls.

“No one is threatening you,” Andris said as if addressing a petulant child. “Annin, lead the way. Hermit, you’re between the Sister and me. Perhaps that separation will calm your nerves. Soris—”

“I know, brother, bring up the rear.” Soris exchanged a frustrated look with him.

The tunnel felt suffocating to Nat. The earthen walls curved in toward her head, forcing her to duck to avoid scraping her hair against the loose soil above her. Showers of dirt fell into her eyes and down the neck of her tunic, and she wondered if the tunnel would simply give way on them, burying them beneath the castle. The smell of rudit still lingered in her hair and clothes and mixed with the damp odor of the tunnel, causing Nat to breathe through her mouth.

Benedict grumbled until Andris told him he’d ride on Soris’ back if he complained any more. The Hermit sniffed, but said nothing more.
Andris isn’t helping Soris’ case by using him as a threat,
Nat thought. Her orb zoomed by her head, lighting the path for those behind her. She shook the dirt out of her tunic and wished Andris would be more sensitive to Soris’ plight.

“Keep your orb under control,” Andris barked after it hit him in the head on its return run toward Annin. She shrugged, knowing she needed to be more careful. She’d noticed how sensitive her orb was to her thoughts. The orb smacking Andris on the head was likely not an accident.

A worn column appeared in the light of the orb. Its platelike crown held the earth in place where the path split in two directions. A thin line of birds, suns, vines, and swords decorated the border of the plate and curved around the front of the column. Nat ran her fingers over the designs, wondering how long the images had existed in this tomblike tunnel.

Benedict emerged from the darkness, followed by Andris and Soris. The brothers wore a similar scowl on their faces. Soris gave her a reassuring smile, then his face creased back into the scowl. Annin wordlessly took the path to the left. Bits of flagstone lined the floor, providing a pocked path where the soil and roots had overtaken the stone.

But as they moved farther up the tunnel, the floor transformed into solid rock and the roots disappeared. Blocks of stone held the earthen walls back. Annin pressed her finger to her lips. Distant muffled voices cut through the silence of the passage. Nat imagined servants preparing for the day on the other side of the wall.

The group crept quietly through the dim tunnel. Nat could make out the faint outline of discs set into the walls. Her hands brushed over the discs, and she felt raised images under her fingertips. She bent down and examined one of them. A delicate vine wound around the rim and a bird, sun, and sword emblem occupied the center.

She was so absorbed with the markings that she jumped when Soris placed his hand on her shoulder. He led her around a bend. Under the light of her orb, she saw Annin press a disc set in the wall. A panel separated from the wall with a click. A moment of deathly stillness passed as they listened for voices and heard nothing. Annin dug her fingers into the panel, edging it open. Nat stood back and watched her vanish into the opening. Andris pulled at his beard and followed. Benedict wheezed and shuffled after him.

“Something’s off,” Soris whispered and gripped Nat’s shoulder. His eyes were focused on the floor of the passage leading in the opposite direction from which they’d come.

“What?” She followed Soris’ gaze and stared at the ground. Nat noticed a trail in the dust. She sent her orb up the tunnel. Its light revealed a single set of footprints next to thin lines in the dust that looked like the prints of a snake slithering over the ground.

“I sense . . .” He paused and closed his eyes. “I sense a Nala nearby.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered. He nodded. Nat unsheathed her sword, hastened past the panel, and found herself inside a large closet. The doors of the closet were cracked open, and she could see a sliver of Benedict’s back on the other side. A blue leg brushed past the opening as a Nala crept stealthily down from the top of the closet. Soris gave Nat a quick look, then they thrust the doors open, whacking the Nala violently in the back.

“Its hand, its hand!” Soris warned as he leapt forward to pull Benedict out of the way of the flailing Nala. A spiked hand plunged into the floor inches from Benedict’s leg. The creature compacted its lean body, balling itself up, and sprang off the floor, hitting the wall and then landing in an open doorway next to Nat. She raised her sword to kill it before it scurried into the other room. The Nala stopped short on its angular limbs. It lifted its bulb-shaped head, and its eyes expanded when it saw the markings on her arm.

“The Sister,” it hissed and jumped at Nat.

Nat lunged, piercing the Nala’s chest. The weight of the creature impaled on her sword brought her slamming down to the wooden floor. The Nala threw its head back and let out a hissing scream next to her. Andris sliced through its neck, ending the nightmarish sound. Blue blood pooled on the hard wooden floor and seeped into Nat’s sleeve. Andris, Soris, and Annin raced through the doorway into the adjoining room to search for more Nala, leaving Nat alone with the corpse and Benedict.

“It had me.” Benedict clutched his chest. His breathing came in labored gasps.

“It doesn’t have you now,” she said, more shaken than she sounded. The Nala had attacked her when it saw her markings. It had a clear escape route to the other room, but it had attacked her. She kicked the slack-mouthed head through the open closet doors.
Why didn’t it run away when it was so outnumbered?
She slid her arms under the creature’s armpits and hauled its body into the closet.

“Natalie, come look at this.” Soris stood in the doorway of the adjoining room with a grave expression on his face. Nat shoved the closet doors shut and hastened to him.

Heavy moth-eaten drapes covered the windows of the old Sisters’ accommodations. Closets and beds with tattered bedclothes lined two walls. Andris stood in the middle of the room, staring at the opposite wall. Even in the dim light, Nat could see the slash marks across the engravings covering the walls. She ran her fingers over the deep gouges that bisected the sun, bird, sword, and vine designs. Annin moved nervously around the room, checking behind the slashed bed drapes and glancing above to the beams that crisscrossed the ceiling.

“What is that?” Nat held her hand to her mouth. A pulpy mess of tissue, muscle, and bones filled a long shallow silver bowl set in the middle of the floor.

“Breakfast for the Nala.” Andris sheathed his sword.

“The rest of the rooms are clear.” Soris stood next to Nat. “I noticed marks in the passageway after you entered the closet, Andris. I think the Nala used it to get in here.”

“Look at this.” Annin held up a small silver basin of clear water resting on a wooden table. “The Nala wasn’t here by accident.” She wrinkled her face in disgust. “Someone invited it and is playing host.”

Andris lifted an edge of the curtain covering the window. “There are the Chemist’s quarters. Other than the passages, these rooms are completely sealed off from the rest of the castle?” He looked at Annin, and she nodded. He frowned.

“Is that . . . ?” Benedict limped through the doorway and stopped when he spotted the silver dish.

“It’s mutton,” Andris said unconvincingly. “Is there another nearby tunnel that’s not connected to that one?” he asked Annin and jerked his thumb in the direction of the adjacent room.

“In a hallway on the other side of the courtyard.” Annin edged away from the water basin.

“Soris, Natalie, secure the passage we came through and put that room back in order. I want no sign of how we entered these rooms. Benedict”—he beckoned to the Hermit—“keep watch and tell me the minute you see a guard or anything move in that courtyard.”

Benedict limped toward the window and stood on tiptoe as he peered out the dirty panes.

Andris grabbed Annin. “Are there any more?” he asked with urgency.

“I think that was the only one . . .” Annin’s voice trailed off as Nat and Soris walked into the next room.

“You knew it was in here, but she didn’t?” Nat whispered to Soris.

He gave her a worried look and lifted an overturned table. “She probably wasn’t focused on trying to sense them,” he said quietly. “I mean, why would she? We’re in the castle, not the middle of the forest. Nala should never be here.” He righted a chair and opened the closet doors. A pointed limb fell to the floor. Nat jumped back, startled. Soris kicked the limb back into the closet. “Hold the door for me. I’ll secure the passage.”

“I think Annin’s right, it wasn’t here by accident.” She kept her voice low as she eyed the headless body sprawled on the floor of the closet. In the dim light, the skin looked almost black. She felt her orb tugging in her pocket and released it. Waves of light fell over the body.
At least it’s not pale white like the ones at the river and the ruins,
she thought and wondered why the creature’s blue color brought her any sense of comfort. “Maybe Mudug is negotiating with the Nala again?” she suggested.

“He could be meeting with them about the trade routes or something else.” The stone door clicked into place. Soris lifted the Nala’s flaccid limbs and repositioned them before stepping back into the room. “Like children the Nala can turn into duozi.” Soris’ eyes held a steely look.