Bound in Darkness (24 page)

That was when two heads suddenly focused on Kyno. They shot forward and grabbed him, just as they had done to Maxum, grabbing his upper body in the mouth of one head and his legs in the mouth of the other. With one great tortious move, it ripped Kyno in two.

Airi screamed in horror as the heads twisted to and fro, flinging the two halves of Kyno's body around like flags in the wind. Horrified and enraged, Airi recklessly charged one of the two heads. But it was a planned attack for all it was a furious one. She switched daggers into their opposite hands and with a huge snap of her arm sent her dagger flinging end over end until it sunk into the eye of one of the heads with a thunk. The head drooped lifelessly on the neck in almost the same instant as it was struck. She filled her free hand with her third and final dagger and switched the daggers back to their proper hands again…putting the god-made weapon back in her right hand.

It turned out to be unnecessary. The great beast staggered and fell as Maxum took off its eighth head, leaving only two. The ninth head shot forward dizzily, lashing out at whatever was closest, catching Airi's arm with its jagged teeth. She cried out as her flesh was ripped away, and Maxum roared out in fury, stabbing Weysa's Champion into the thing's head and killing it. Kilon shot one last arrow into the tenth head and the thing fell down dead, its huge body exhaling a final time in a huge huff of breath.

Airi dropped down onto the ground as well, gasping for breath through pain and physical and mental exhaustion. Maxum hurried over to her, shouting for Doisy.

“It might be poisoned! Help her! Quickly, man!”

“I'm all right,” she assured him softly, reaching out to filter fingers into his thick hair. “But Kyno…” She wanted to be tough. She really did. And she didn't know why it mattered so much to her, but it made her so sad to think he'd gone his entire life without the comfort of a woman because of the prejudices in the world. Now there was no time left for him to find that comfort. It was over. He was over. And it brought her to tears to think of it like some kind of…some kind of
woman.

She scrubbed bloody hands across her face, swiping at the tears.

“Oh great. Now she's crying! This just gets better and better!” Kilon spat. “Listen sister, he's dead and that's the end of it. It happens. Price we pay for the work we do. You gotta get over it if you think you're going to make a living like this.”

After that bit of unfriendly advice, Kilon walked over to the creature and began yanking arrows out of its body, cursing every time one of his shafts broke.

“Hey,” Maxum said softly to her. “Don't worry about it. I'm just as pissed as you are.”

She looked at him in surprise. How had he known? That her tears were those of anger, not just some weak womanly fretting.

“He was just getting started,” she said, sniffling.

“Yeah, he was. But he'll be in any one of the eight heavens now, he gets his pick. He'll be happy there.”

“I hope so.”

“We've seen the face of the gods,” he whispered to her. “We know the heavens are as real as the hells.”

She nodded to him and felt comfort and gratitude. She looked at his face and saw pain there. Guilt. She wouldn't let him do that to himself.

“You said it every time. We made our choices. We followed you of our own accord. You didn't force any of us.”

“Still…”

“No,” she said firmly. “He died exactly the way he wanted to. Fighting for a better life.”

“He could have had that better life if he'd just stayed behind.”

“He was taking care of others as well,” she told him.

He looked at her in surprise. “I didn't know that.”

“He told me. His mother.”

“I'll see to it she gets his share,” he said.

“What? No! That money goes to us now!” Kilon ejected.

“Kyno died for his share and he's going to get it!” Maxum barked at the greedy man. “And his mum will get half my share as well. Enough to keep her in comfort the rest of her life and then some.”

“Provided what's in there is worth having! Worth Kyno dying for.”

“Oh, you could give a snergle's ass what Kyno died for!” Airi spat at him. She looked at the chest. It was trapped beneath half of the creature's body. It would take a monumental effort on their part to free it. Especially without Kyno…

Airi looked down at her right arm when the wound began to knit together. She pulled her arm out of Doisy's grasp and said, “Thanks.”

“But I'm not finish—”

“Later,” she said grimly. “We have work to do…and a friend to bury.”

T
hey removed the creature from on top of the trunk with a great deal of effort. When the body finally rolled free, Maxum held Kilon back from opening it. He did the honors himself a moment later. Inside the enormous crate was a small box, a sword, and a crown.

“That's it? That's what we almost got killed for?”

“It must be a very special sword and crown,” Maxum surmised. He opened the box and saw the ring inside of it. He took a breath and exhaled it slowly.

“Another ring? Is that what we're here for? What's this one do?” Kilon went to snatch it from the box but Maxum was quicker. He palmed the ring then slid it on his finger where it would be safest. “This is my share,” he said. “The rest is for the party.”

Kilon's eyes narrowed. “You'll give us all the rest of it…just for that ring?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, I call ownership of the crown.”

“I'd take the sword if I could wield it,” Doisy said, “but I can't so it seems to me we'll do what we've always done. We pool it all, Kilon. Sell what we can and divvy up the gold.”

“But I want the crown,” Kilon said stubbornly.

“If your share can cover the cost of it you can have it. But we share out first!” Doisy was adamant.

“Doisy has it right. If you can afford the crown with your share you can have it. Otherwise it gets split. Now, let's take these and go bury our friend. It's almost sunset and I want to start getting out of this maze as soon as possible.”

“It should be faster going on the way out, now that we have markings to follow. Let's just hope there aren't any more surprises,” Doisy said.

Stepping out of the fountain a short while later, Doisy and Kilon stopped to pry as many stones out of the floor of the fountain as they could carry, and by that time the sun was setting.

“We'll camp here. Go get some of those torches from below and we'll have a fire,” Maxum said.

“You know something…that makes me wonder…a ten-headed monster can't light and tend torches. How did they get lit and stay lit?” Airi asked.

“Only the gods might know. They set that thing here to guard a treasure,” Maxum said.

“Yes but…who fed that thing? Who—”

“Will you shut up about it? Who cares? As long as we don't run into whoever or whatever it is, I don't care
who,
” Kilon said.

“Leave it to you to look on the short side of things,” Airi said.

“Leave it to you to be a smart-mouthed bit—”

“Enough! I'm tired of you two bickering!” Maxum snapped.

“Bickering! That's what you call the way he treats me?” she said, completely aghast that Maxum didn't see the truth of the matter.

“I am just trying to keep the peace,” Maxum said through his teeth at her.

“Fine! Go off and do your thing,” she said, shooing him away. “I'll keep watch over things here.”

“And I'll help,” Doisy said quickly before Kilon could react to that.

Maxum stalled a moment, looking unsure of the situation. But he had no choice but to go so he chose an exit out of the center of the maze and walked a safe distance away from the group.

Back at the campsite they had built a small fire. There had been no birds flying overhead this deep into the maze, another thing that gave her the creeps, so they had no fresh meat for dinner. They made do with their dried staples. Doisy laid out their bedrolls, putting as much distance between Kilon and Airi as was possible.

“Someone should keep watch all night tonight. Who knows what else this place has in store for us,” Airi said.

“I think the worst of it is over,” Kilon drawled as he sat back against the fountain. He had filled his bags with precious stones and was content to wait for daybreak and their eventual escape from the maze.

Airi had yet to pry a single stone from the fountain. She should. She should carry her weight. She should earn enough to help Kyno's mother live a secure life and to secure her own future. But somehow it was the furthest thing from her mind. They had left Kyno down in that oubliette, in a shallow grave dug in the earthen floor by swords and daggers. In a way it was a warrior's burial. She didn't know how she would find Kyno's mother, but she would find her. He had said he had moved her to a big city. Maybe one of the others knew which. She would find her and tell her what a fine warrior and man her son was. She would hear of her son's death from a stranger and a friend.

She was keeping watch when Maxum returned, the cold seeping into her bones. She had been leaning toward the fire, but now that he had returned, she leaned toward Maxum. She sat up with him, tucked up under his arm like they were sweethearts. She should have protested the sentimentality of the thought, but she was simply too tired. She fell asleep under the protective wing of his arm.

They made their way out of the maze in record time. They practically ran the whole way out, racing from marking to marking until they found themselves faced with the wall of bramble trees and ivy. They began to climb and she was so elated she began to call out, “Dru! We've made it! Dru!”

They topped the wall and looked over. There, sitting in a makeshift camp, sat Dru. He was stunned and elated to see them, hurrying up to meet them.

“I feared the worst! Oh, thank the gods!”

“We made it. Now let's get out of this forest!” Airi said.

“It's almost sunset,” Maxum said quietly.

“Oh. Well…we'll make camp with Dru then. Maybe Kilon can get some game. I'm starving.”

“Maybe Kilon can't,” Kilon said contrarily. “I don't answer to you.”

“No, but you answer to me,” Maxum said. “Go. Hunt. Maybe it'll improve your mood. Airi, you cook what he gets, right?”

“Right,” she said, not minding “women's work” in the least if it meant hot food.

Maxum then took his mount and rode off into the dense woods. He had yet to test the ring and its power and he was eager to do so, but not where others would see. He didn't mind Airi knowing, couldn't avoid it actually, but the rest…he didn't want anyone knowing just what kind of treasure he had acquired. He didn't want them knowing anything about where all of this was headed.

When he left his horse and walked a safe distance away, he let the ground have him, let it suck him under. When it spit him back out hours later he moved to the nearest tree, laid his hands upon it, and pushed.

The massive fwey tree creaked, then moved, then fell over as he ripped the roots right out of the ground. He lifted the tree as if he were lifting a large branch, though there was some effort involved. It wasn't as if he could do it with a push of a finger. He did break a sweat after holding on to it for several minutes. But the fact was his strength had been multiplied by several times. The ring was doing its job and it would be what he needed in his fight against Sabo. Now there was only one thing left to get and that was located a month away from where they presently were. It would be hard travel on horseback. And winter was coming.

On the plus side…Airi had finally stopped fighting him. He knew it was only a matter of time now and he looked upon it with relish. He would have her…and soon.

He wondered at himself, wondered at the power of the pleasure that the idea of having her gave him. He thought he should be worried—that any attachments might serve him ill in the coming future. A man with nothing to lose was what was needed to defeat a god.

He had to be a man with nothing to lose.

Or perhaps a man with everything to lose. With a reason to fight that god other than for his own selfish respite from a curse. He had learned to live with this curse…but he would not be worth having if he came burdened with it and so could not give of himself. Not until…not until it was all over.

He returned to the campsite and, as usual, she had waited up for him, keeping watch over everything as the others slept. It was wise. They could not relax their guard as long as they were in the Killing Forest. There were too many savage beasts both humanoid and not roaming the woods. It was a miracle Dru was still there, unscathed.

He went and sat beside her. She quietly set his plate before him and then watched him eat. If something was on her mind she wasn't sharing it with him just then.

“Come here,” he said when he had finished and put aside his plate.

She came without argument and tucked herself up against him under his arm. He touched her face then, tracing the shape of it, the delicate curves that belied the strength within her. She had fought as hard and as bravely as any man would have. More than most would have. She had not cowered.

He touched the place on her arm where her shirt was torn from the beast's bite. Doisy had healed her almost to perfection. There was a thin scar as a reminder of what she had done. A battle wound. One she could point to and tell stories about when she was at an inn trading glory stories with the old and hardened men who wouldn't believe her for a second. Who could believe something so small could help defeat something so big?

“I'll have to mend it,” she said, speaking of the shirt.

“You're lucky you still have your arm.”

“We're all lucky.” She frowned as she no doubt thought of the one who had not been so lucky.

“Most of us,” he said needlessly.

“Most of us,” she agreed.

“Tomorrow we leave this forest behind, find a good inn, take a bit of respite before we make our way to find that cuff.”

“It's a long journey.”

“It is,” he said, suddenly unsure. Did she mean she wasn't willing to go? Suddenly the idea of it left him cold. No. He had to convince her to come. But before he could open his mouth she said, “Don't worry. I'm in this until the bitter end.”

He marveled at her, that she now knew him well enough to predict his thoughts and, perhaps, his emotions. It was a warming sensation. A comforting one, to know that someone knew him. Cared enough to know him. Even if it was a little thief who never wanted to care about anyone but herself. It was easier that way, he realized. When she cared she got hurt. She had cared about Kyno. Now she hurt.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Sleep,” he said. “Tomorrow will come soon enough.”

“What about you?”

“I'll keep watch. Go on. Go to sleep.”

“I'll sleep here,” she said, snuggling down deeper against him.

He didn't argue with her. It felt too good having her there to argue.

They made it out of the Killing Forest in one piece and found the nearest road away from it. They traveled every day until sunset and made their way south toward the city of Gorgun. But there were many cities in between and they needed to find one to lighten their load of precious gems.

The first city they came to was a thriving port city called Corcouhn. Doisy collected the loot from their adventure and went about his job of converting it to gold—all except the crown, which Kilon was bent on keeping for himself. Airi accompanied him as a guard against thieves. It took one to spot one, she said, and he would be traveling with a great deal of gold and gems and needed something to protect him other than a staff. Plus, with her dagger, everyone had to deal with them fairly.

Once he had finished his trade the amount of gold he had achieved was staggering. This would get her anywhere in the world she wanted to go ten times over and have a rich living besides. There was no longer any reason for her to play the role of a thief. There was no longer any reason to follow Maxum and his men. She no longer had to subject herself to Kilon's acrid presence.

So why was she so bent on staying? Why didn't she leave while the leaving was good? She asked herself this question over and over again. As she locked away her portion of gold in the bank, adding the key to the place where her Calandria bank key lay hidden, she had no good answer. The only answer she had was…Maxum. She had promised to see him through to his goal, whatever insanity it might be, however much she disagreed with it. Perhaps she could convince him not to throw his life away. Yes, he was cursed but at least the rest of the time he could lead a normal life. That was something wasn't it? Something worth having?