Warden (Blade Asunder Book 3) (15 page)

Perseus had freed Ganry from his shackles as he had done every day since they had been captured, but it helped less and less. The muscular warrior was truly exhausted from his daily torture of those insects that drained him.

Perseus looked forward to receiving the sign that his master was close and he could kill the Akkedis Empress, exacting his revenge on these lizards. Ghaffar would be one of the first to die. He would take great pleasure in this, for all the pain he had caused, not only for Ganry, but for the Queen and her family. Qutaybah had stressed to him that not only was he to kill the Lizard Empress, but he was also there to protect the Duchess and her family.

Perseus liked his master. He was fair and treated him with respect. He knew that though there was personal gain for Qutaybah in this, it was also for the benefit of the Suggizon nation, to help them progress in a world that had given them up for dead.

He put Ganry’s head on his lap and slowly fed him water.

“Come, my friend, it is nearly over and I need your strength once more,” Perseus said.

“You mean I’m nearly dead?” Ganry managed to grumble, in a deep hoarse voice. “Hah. If you think I’m helping you when I’m a ghost, you can think again, you snake slithering, sneaky…” his words were interrupted as his body was wracked with a deep chesty coughing. Blood spots appeared on the hand that he covered his mouth with.

“Save your strength.” Perseus ignored Ganry’s insults. “Hendon has sent you a life saving gift.” He opened up his hand to show Ganry a strange creature that scuttled about on his palm.

“And what do I do with that, eat it?” Ganry meant his words as a joke, but one look at Perseus’s face told him that was exactly what he had to do.

“Are you mad, Perseus? Do I not suffer enough with the creatures that odious little man puts into my body, you want me to take another? Please, just leave me to die.”

“I need you, Ganry, and your Queen needs you. Once we are free of this place then you are welcome to die as you wish. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take this creature. This is not going to be easy, but you must swallow it with this water.”

Ganry waved his had in one movement, indicating this was all nonsense. “What manner of magic is this meant to be then?” he asked, with no faith whatsoever in Hendon’s gift.

“Hendon assures me that this creature will kill the insects that Ghaffar tortures you with. You must trust me, and trust Hendon. Your Queen commands it of you.”

“My daughter was just as bossy as Myriam, do you know that?” Ganry was feverish and probably hallucinating. “These women, they tell us what to do our whole lives, as sisters and daughters, as mothers and as wives.”

“Put this on your tongue,” Perseus instructed the rambling warrior. “Now swallow a whole cup of water to wash it down,” he said, tipping the clay cup between Ganry’s lips. “Is it gone yet?”

“Is what gone?” Ganry questioned, unsure where he was as he sweated hot and shivered cold. These days he could not remember very much. He seemed to think his daughter was in danger but he could not remember why.

Perseus put Ganry back into his shackles so he hung from the cave wall. Putting himself back into his own chains, just in time, he heard the lock turning and in walked Ghaffar.

“Greetings,” he said in a jolly voice as he entered the room, with the female Sileta following him through the door. “How you must have missed me yesterday, but I had other important appointments. However, today I thought we would finish our little game. Sileta here will be placing every single one of her lovely pets inside of your body, Ganry, and then we shall say our goodbyes. It has been fun while it lasted, but now I must concentrate my mind on other matters.”

Ganry could hear talking, in the distance, but he could make no sense of the words. His mind was whirring, someone was in danger, someone close to him, but he could not quite grasp who it was.

A shiver ran through his body as a strange woman stood in front of him. She looked odd, shimmering, her skin seemed to crawl. Somewhere in his mind he realized that she was covered in insects, and soon those insects would be inside him, tormenting him until he could take it no more.

He tried to squirm his body away from her as she approached him. He felt, rather than saw the insects, as they burrowed into his skin causing him to cry out in pain.

Over the days of torture, Ghaffar had instructed Sileta not to let the insects close to Ganry’s heart. Instead he wanted Ganry to suffer in agonizing pain as he slowly died. He enjoyed seeing him squirm and scream as the insects burrowed through his body. Long ago was the pretense of torturing him for information done away with. But today it was time to end the fun.

“Let us finish him, Sileta,” Ghaffar said with finality. “Let your creatures have the prize they so desire, while it still barely beats.”

Sileta murmured some words that Ganry could not comprehend. Gently she rubbed her hands along his torso. Ganry could feel little tremors where she touched him. Those tremors gave the kewers their entry point. In a frenzy they made their way to the victim’s heart.

It was not just the kewers that felt the tremors, unbeknown to Ghaffar and Sileta, the insects were already dying as quickly as they entered. The tremors had alerted the creature that Ganry had swallowed, and it was squirming around his blood stream, shooting out its acid silk and killing the kewers at a very fast rate.

Sileta faltered and pulled her hands away from Ganry. She screamed out, as if in terrible pain.

“Quickly, instruct them to go to the heart,” Ghaffar shouted at her, worried something was amiss.

“I cannot,” she cried out, falling onto the floor and curling up in a ball as if in agony. “My pets are dying, what is he doing to them?” she screamed, before passing out unconscious on the hard stone floor.

Ganry became aware of a woman falling down. He stared at a small man, or what resembled a man, but he was not sure if it was really human. His skin seemed to shift before his eyes, one moment it was smooth and then it appeared hard and scaly.

As each kewer was killed within him, his own strength returned. He felt a power coursing through him, invigorating him. Suddenly, he was conscious of his shackles, and he pulled on them, straining at them with his revitalized muscles. He had to escape these bonds, his daughter, nay, his Queen needed him.

At that moment, Perseus changed into a giant snake, falling free from his shackles and slithering straight towards Ghaffar. The little lizard man stood shaking, shock written on his features as he watched the events unfold before him.

All control was gone. The female, Sileta, looked dead. The human, Ganry, who only moments ago looked close to death, was now seemingly full of strength. But worse, what he thought was a human, Perseus, was in fact one of those dreaded Suggizon creatures, and it was heading towards him with malice in its eyes.

Ghaffar’s survival instincts took over, and he found his feet. He pushed the guard behind him out of his way and into the path of the advancing Suggizon. Perseus lunged at the escaping Ghaffar but the guard blocked his way.

Ghaffar was quickly out of the door and heading deep into the caves. He knew these tunnels better than any other and he soon made his escape. Should he run to the Empress and let her know that she was in danger? Perhaps, but for a short while he would do better to hide. Who knows what calamity might be in these corridors, now that sickening creature was loose? He doubted there was more than one of them. It may be advantageous to stay hidden and make his escape when the commotion stopped.

Myriam, in exchange for allowing Linz and Hendon to occupy the adjoining empty room, had promised Ghaffar she would provide double quantity of her blood. She wanted them close, but also their room was how Perseus came to them, from a tunnel under one of the beds. She felt it safer, with less chance of being discovered if they occupied the room. They had only recently finished taking her blood and she was exhausted. She hoped that Empress Gishja choked on it.

A loud noise coming from the boy’s room startled her. She did not have the strength to go and investigate. Instead she waited patiently, knowing the commotion would come to her eventually. And, it did exactly that, but it was not from the room that events started to unfold.

The main door leading out to the corridor flew open. It was Arriba, looking disheveled and distressed.

“Queen Myriam, your man has escaped and he has freed me too. Ghaffar had me locked away because he suspected that I’d helped you.” Arriba came into the room and fell at Myriam’s feet. “Now, my lady, I want to help you get away from here and back to your own people. It is wrong what we have done.”

“Oh, Arriba, I’m so glad they haven’t harmed you, I was worried and…”

Linz suddenly burst through the adjoining door and into Myriam’s room, interrupting her reply to the Akkedis female. He looked excited and agitated, all at once.

“Myriam, look, it has begun…” he moved aside to allow the person behind him to enter her room.

“Ganry!” Myriam cried. She found the strength to stand and greet him. “Oh Ganry, I have so missed you. What is happening?”

Ganry stepped into the room and Perseus quickly followed him. He had changed back into his human form.

“My Queen, thanks to my friends, I have survived the torture of that odious little man and I am here to help. But we must act quickly,” Ganry replied.

He turned to Linz and Hendon. “You two, quickly, block all the doorways that lead to the passageways. Every piece of furniture needs to be used in making a barrier. Here, we will finally make our stand.”

Linz and Hendon got to work instantly, with the help of Perseus, all furniture was pushed and carried to block the three doorways, one in each room.

“I trust you have a plan, Perseus?” the Duchess questioned.

“My only plan was to save Ganry,” he replied as he moved the last piece of heavy furniture in front of Myriam’s door. “I have not yet had a sign from my master, but I sense my people are not far. This could mean that they are in the tunnels. I am going to make my way to the outer tunnels and see if I can find out more. Once I’m sure that Qutaybah is here, I will make my move to the Akkedis Empress.”

“She is a fierce foe,” the Duchess replied. “You should not take her on alone.”

“He is not alone, Duchess,” Ganry joined the conversation. “I will have his back.”

“And I,” Linz added. “It is time we drew some blood of our own.”

“I fear even with you three warriors, she will be difficult to overcome. She has just fed from the strongest of royal blood,” the Duchess reminded them.

“She is not as strong as she used to be,” Hendon said. “She is old and much weakened. I feel our blood does not increase her strength, but only allows her to live.”

“Let us hope so,” Perseus said, patting Hendon on the shoulders in encouragement. “I go now. I must search the outer tunnels. I will return in a few hours.”

“Ghaffar fled in terror of his life,” Ganry told them. “Somehow, I doubt he’ll go to his Empress with such dire news of our escape. This may give us a slight advantage, for while she is unaware of what has happened, we can stay ahead of the game. My fingers are itching for revenge.”

Perseus changed into his snake form in front of them. Only Arriba shrunk back in fear. The others all knew this creature was not a danger to them. He quickly left by the tunnel under the bed.

“I must leave,” Arriba said to the humans, realizing the dangers of her being found in the room with them. Should she be discovered here, this would surely lead to her death.

“What will they do to you though, Arriba, when they find out you have escaped?”

“It will not matter because Ghaffar is the one who was punishing me. If he is in hiding, then I will be safe. It is better this way. I may find a way to help you by being among my own people. I will watch closely and do all I can to delay your capture and help with your escape. But I cannot stay here and be seen as a traitor to my people.”

“Of course, you are quite right, child,” the Duchess was the first to agree. “She can help us far better from the outside. Let us get her out of these rooms. I suggest she goes through the tunnel that Perseus has left. That way she will escape the attention of the guards.”

Arriba stepped into the adjoining room with Linz and Hendon, staring at the tunnel with a good deal of apprehension. She knew that this was where the Suggizon had gone. She had always been told, from being a young child, that the snake creatures were their mortal enemies. Evil monsters that fed on the babies of the Akkedis. This one did not seem like that. It was friendly, and these humans trusted it. Arriba was beginning to think a lot of what she had been taught was wrong.

Linz and Hendon helped her climb down the tunnel. None knew where it would take her, but she was willing to risk this. She knew she could help the humans better if she were to mingle with her own kind. There was nothing she could do to help if she stayed here, cowering from Ghaffar. Myriam grabbed a hold of her hand before she disappeared down the tunnel. “Thank you, Arriba. Even if you cannot help, I thank you for being a friend.”

Arriba just nodded her head. She had every intention on helping, somehow. She did not wish to hurt her Empress, but she hated Ghaffar and would gladly see his reign end.

***

Arriba followed the narrow passageway, hoping it did not collapse on her, though it looked well used. Perseus must have been visiting with the humans for some time now.

Finally, she came to its end and breathed a sigh of relief to find herself in a wine cellar. A large empty barrel covered the hole to the tunnel. She moved it aside and climbed out of the hole, making sure to replace the barrel before leaving the cellar. It would be a good way for the humans to leave their rooms, when the time was right.

For now, she needed to find out what was happening. Did her Empress know of this incident yet? Had Ghaffar come out of hiding?

A female Akkedis left the wine cellar carrying a barrel of ale. This was not an unusual sight, and no one noticed her. The bar was full of male Akkedis, gambling and shouting loudly at the tables. None noticed Arriba leaving the inn. She had placed her barrel by the bar and simply walked out onto the streets of the Akkedis underground city. There she would try and find help for the imprisoned human Queen and her comrades. She felt she owed them that, at least.