Bitter Ashes (Bitter Ashes Book 1) (16 page)

“How did you manage to keep that information from Estus until now?” I asked.

It seemed pointless to torture someone who couldn't feel pain. Of course, I suppose the threat of losing a foot could make a person talk regardless of whether or not they'd feel it.

“I knew better than to share my secrets around here,” Maya said, looking pointedly at Sophie.

“I've learned that lesson too,” Sophie said quietly.

Maya nodded and we all started forward. Eventually I went to Maya's other side to help speed our progress. She reeked of burned flesh and other smells, and I had to hold onto her scabbed skin more tightly than I would have liked, but it was necessary.

We were lucky that Maya was small, or we would have had trouble carrying her out. I couldn't help but wonder how she'd even survive out of the Salr with the condition she was in.

Sophie's eyes caught mine over the top of Maya's head. The look in her eyes was sad, yet determined, and told me exactly what she was thinking. She was going to go with Maya and leave me to find the charm on my own, even if we managed to get Maya out undetected. Sophie watched as the realization played across my face and bit her lip, waiting for my reaction. Doubting that I really had much choice in the matter, I nodded that it was okay.

As we reached the stairs, the three of us looked up with concern. The tall steps were strenuous enough to climb in the best of conditions, and these were definitely not the best of conditions. Our worries about the stairs were erased as a new worry stepped into view. A tall figure came to stand at the top of the stairway, clearly intending to block our way, though it was too dark to see his face. 

“I'll try to keep whoever it is busy,” I said quietly. “You run with Maya.”

“You'll be killed,” Sophie replied harshly. “Or worse, you'll end up in Maya's cell, only
you'll
be able to feel the pain that James will cause you. Run to whoever it is for help. Tell them I forced you to do this.”

The figure took a step down the stairs, then another. “We're caught now,” I said through gritted teeth. “And me turning you in won't do any good. I'll try to take them down, then I'll follow you. I'll leave too.”

The thought of leaving broke my heart, but I had no choice. I thought of waking Alaric up and asking him to come with us, but I couldn't do that to him. If Estus hunted Maya down, he would hunt anyone else that left too. I ran out of time to think as the figure drew closer. It was clearly a man, but I still couldn't see his face.

I let go of Maya and prepared to charge at whoever it was.

“Maddy?” a man's voice said. “Is that you?”

“You idiot,” Sophie chided, relief clear in her voice. “You scared us half to death.”

“You should be scared,” Alaric whispered back. “What the hell are you two doing down here?” He eyes turned toward me as he stepped close enough for me to see. “First you ask for my help, then you sneak out of bed while I'm sleeping and run off, once again not allowing me to help. What happened to letting me in on your schemes
before
you carry them out?”

I shrugged, at a loss for words.

Obviously frustrated, Alaric walked past me and effortlessly lifted Maya up into his arms. “The North breach?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sophie answered simply as she started forward, leading the way.

I wanted to ask what the North breach was, but kept my mouth shut as I followed our party up the stairs, then started down the hallway silently. We walked unhindered for a while and I was just starting to feel a little less nervous when I heard clicking behind me, then something poked into my back. I jumped forward and bumped into Sophie. The forward jump wasn't enough to get me out of the way, as the next thing I knew I was on my back with a tremendous weight on top of me.

Stella's rottweiler face panted inches from my nose, forcing hot, steamy breath into my sinuses. She could have easily crushed me with her thick middle, but instead she hovered above me with her legs to either side, only placing enough weight on me to keep me still.

“Stella!” Sophie whispered harshly.

Stella looked up at Sophie, then looked to Maya in Alaric's arms and growled. I watched the whole scene upside down as Alaric gently let Maya down. She leaned against the wall as if only having one foot was a perfectly normal thing for her.

Alaric glanced at Sophie. “I'll grab Stella, then you grab Maddy.”

Sophie replied with a curt nod. As Alaric stepped closer, Stella lowered her belly more firmly against me, still not crushing, but making it obvious that she didn't want me to go anywhere.

Alaric stepped behind Stella so that I could no longer see him.

“Be ready to grab her quickly,” he whispered. “I don't want Stella's claws to get to Maddy when I lift her.”

I thought the idea of Alaric lifting Stella questionable in itself, since the beast had to weigh several hundred pounds. Even more questionable was the idea that Sophie could get me to my feet quick enough to avoid getting skewered by Stella's large, bear-like claws.

“One,” Alaric counted down.

“Two,” Sophie said.

Before anyone could say three, Alaric and Sophie both lunged toward the creature. Suddenly I was on my feet, and Stella was thrashing around in Alaric's arms as he tried to hold her aloft.

“Go!” he grunted.

Sophie shoved me forward ahead of her, then picked Maya up in a less-than-graceful fireman's carry. It was either run or block Sophie's way, so I forced myself forward. I looked back over my shoulder as we took a nearby turn. The last thing I saw was Stella turning around to slash Alaric across the chest just as she let out a loud bellow.

“We have to go back!” I wailed as Sophie used her free shoulder to shove me forward.

“He'll catch up!” she yelled back.

After Stella's warning shriek, we were no longer concerned with silence. Our only hope now was speed, and I was hindering us.

I tried to force my way around Sophie to go back to Alaric, causing her to nearly drop Maya. Sophie stopped me and got in my face as she repositioned Maya over her shoulder. Eyes that had gone full-feline stared me down as she said, “He
will
catch up. Now go.”

I went, not sure where I was running to, but trusting that Sophie would guide me. Tears streamed down my face as I thought of Alaric getting cut up by Stella. What if he didn't catch up? Would Estus blame everything on Alaric if Sophie and I left?

“Wait!” Sophie shouted.

I came to a skidding halt in front of a door to my left as Sophie stopped right beside me. She still had Maya over her shoulder, and her little stone was in her free hand. Sophie placed the stone against the lock on the door until it became a melted hunk of metal. She pushed the door open, then gestured for me to go inside.

There was no room on the other side of the door, just a hall I had never seen before. I forced myself forward again, even though my muscles and lungs were screaming at me from over-exertion. As we ran, the clean stone walls began to show signs of erosion, and vines crept up over the cracked stones. I couldn't tell for sure since everything was a blur around me, but it seemed like the vines were moving.

The hallway ended suddenly in a writhing mass of vines. Sophie set Maya gently down amongst the serpentine tendrils. The smaller tendrils crept forward and instantly began to envelop her, just like they'd done to me when I was first brought to the Salr.

I watched in awe as Maya's form disappeared from view with barely a sound. I was so entranced that I only heard the footsteps a moment before someone grabbed my wrist and whirled me around. I came face to face with James, whose nose was badly bruised. He watched my fear for a moment, then tugged my wrist again, bringing me toward him so that he could hold my back firmly against his chest.

“I've been dreaming about having you chained to a wall,” he said melodiously as I struggled against him. “It looks like my dreams are about to come true.”

Sophie turned worried eyes to me as she backed herself toward the vines. I realized what she was going to do as the first tear crept slowly down her face.

“I'm sorry, Maddy,” she said softly before turning her sad eyes to James.

“I'd stop you,” he began, “but what I'm going to do to your brother will cause you so much more pain than knives and fire ever could.”

I started struggling again as Sophie lowered herself into the vines. She met my eyes until the vines reached her face and pulled her down into the swirling mass.

I continued struggling as James pulled me back away from the only route of escape. “You can't kill me,” I grunted as James' squeezed me tight enough to cut off my air supply. “Estus needs me.”

James laughed. “Accidents happen,” he said happily as he forced me back down the hallway. “An accident happened with the last executioner, and we found a new one just fine.”

My mind raced at his admission. “So he wasn't a traitor then?” I breathed.

James laughed. “He couldn't figure out how to find the charm. I had hoped to inspire him, but I might have gone too far.”

“So you knew?” I gasped. “You've known what Estus was looking for since the beginning?”

We had reached the door with its melted lock just as Alaric came into view. His chest and neck were a bloody mess. I could feel every single cut on his body as he stood there in front of us. Alaric sneered his unnaturally elongated teeth at James. I had only seen his teeth look like that one other time, and that was right after he'd bitten a man's throat out. Even as injured as he was, he still planned on a fight.

James let me go so that he could face down Alaric. “You better not have hurt Stella,” he commented.

Alaric glared at James defiantly, then spit blood onto the ground. Whether it was his own blood, or someone else's, I wasn't sure. “You'll have to get through me to find out.”

James took one step forward.

“
That
, will not be necessary,” Estus said as he came into view behind Alaric.

Alaric closed in and repositioned himself in front of me, ignoring the threat of James for the greater threat of Estus.

Estus cocked his head to one side, making his loose gray hair stream over his shoulders and dark colored robes like silk.

“Truly Alaric,” he said calmly, “you could have at least
tried
to keep your sister here.”

Alaric got down on one knee and bowed his head. “I was preoccupied,” he apologized, “but at least you still have your executioner.”

I looked from Estus to Alaric in confusion. Just a moment before he had been ready to fight James, and now that Estus was here, he was just handing me over? I stared down at Alaric, willing him to look up and meet my eyes, but he just kneeled there as a small pool of blood formed underneath him.

“Take her to a cell,” Estus ordered.

James looked just as shocked as I felt. “He was helping them,” he stated, pointing at Alaric's still form. “I should be bringing
him
to a cell.”

Estus looked directly at me when he said, “Alaric was working on my orders. Madeline is the only prisoner here.”

James growled and grabbed me again, shoving me forward harder than he needed to. Alaric kept his head bowed as Estus approached him, then we turned a corner and I could no longer see the true traitor in my life.

M
y bones ached from the cold as I slowly lifted myself to a seated position. I had no idea how long I'd been left alone in the dark, but judging by the pain in my stomach, I'd say at least 24 hours. The side I'd been lying on slowly regained feeling as I looked groggily around for any sign of where I was.

I reached forward blindly until my hands met with cool metal. I snaked my grip around the bars as everything came crashing back. Sophie and Maya, James, Estus . . . and Alaric. He had betrayed me, and now I was in the same dungeon we had rescued Maya from. Poetic justice at its best.

With nothing to comfort me in the pure darkness, I resorted to curling up in a corner with my back pressed against the wall. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. The darkness was much worse than the hunger or cold. I laid there for what felt like hours. Every time I tried to open my eyes, I would panic from lack of bearings. Realistically I knew I was in a cell by myself, but when you can't even see an inch in front of your nose, you constantly feel like you're about to run into something.

A noise somewhere down the long hall that ended in my cell startled me back into full awareness. My eyes snapped open before I could stop them, only this time I wasn't assaulted by the oppressive darkness. The light at the end of the hall crept closer, and a sliver of hope made my heart race.

That hope sank to the pit of my stomach when I saw who was approaching. James eyed me thoughtfully with his cold, pale eyes as he came to stand in front of me. His eyes reminded me of the eyes of a corpse . . . cold, dead, and unfeeling. Not liking the feeling of him looking down on me while I huddled in my corner, I forced myself to my feet.

He eyed me for a few more silent moments, as if he'd memorize the pitiful sight of me, then he smirked. “I just don't see it,” he said softly as he shook his head.

“See-” I rasped, then took a moment to wet my throat. “See what?” The words felt foreign on my tongue after the prolonged silence of my imprisonment. Emotions that I'd been avoiding came flooding into reality, now that I had a target for them.

“Why Estus won't let me kill you,” he stated bluntly as he pushed his golden hair out of his face.

His hair was that annoying length where it's almost long enough to tuck behind the ears, but not quite, so it always just fell forward instead. His hair and faintly tan skin gave the image of someone who spent a lot of time hiking, or doing other outdoor activities, yet looks can be deceiving. James' favorite activities were reserved for dark rooms, behind locked doors.

I leaned back against the wall with my hips slightly jutted forward in an aggressive stance. I'd only done it because I was ready to lose my feet, but James didn't need to know that. When in doubt, try to look tough.