Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) (43 page)

Maybe s
he
wanted
the Obelisk here, so she moved
me
, made it so my actions would cause it to happen
when I destroyed that train
. 

He drew his blade.  The cold caused the hilt to cleave to his skin.

But then why would she send
me
after it again
?
  And why now?

His mind raced as he stepped down the corridor.  The air warmed, but
it also
grew less stable.  His shadow folded and doubled, fell away and danced along the wall like he was more than one self, a group of possibilities.  His vision blurred, cleared, blurred again.  The sound of his footsteps echoed down the uncertain hall.

Why send me here?
he wondered again.
  Or does it even matter?  Now that my part has been played, is she even concerned with me
at all
?

Was she ever?

He felt he should have resisted somehow, should have made some different choice, tried to act in an unpredictable manner.  He also knew it was too late.  If he was right, if Azradayne was indeed the spider and she’d manipulated him for the sake of altering the pattern of fates, if she’d spun her webs
out
as far out as he suspected, then she’d have planned for every contingency.  He was nothing more than a fly now, caught in her strands.

Cross continued down the tunnel.  Whatever she’d determined his fate to be, he’d meet it head on. 

SEVENTEEN

PREPARATIONS

Do you?

Do you what?

Do you love me?

Danica woke in darkness.  She’d dreamed of Cole.  For a moment she
couldn’t
remember what had happened, and she panicked when she
couldn’t
find Lara next to her.

And then she remembered
Lara was dead
, and
she was wracked with sorrow
.  She tried to keep herself quiet, but her sobs echoed
into
the dark.  Memories of
Cole
flashed
through
her mind, moments they’d shared.
W
alking near Rimefang
Loch
beneath a blood sun
.  D
oing shots of green liquor on an airship passing over Kalakkaii
.  S
moking naked in Cole’s little
apartment in Ath
while
they
read
cheesy lines
to each other
from
paranormal romance novels
.  L
ooking at
one an
other, staring at
one
an
other, kissing and caressing and listening to music from the grammaphone. 

Danica lay in the dark.  She imagined Cole
next to her
, just like in her memor
ies
,
with
her
dark hair spilled o
nto
the floor,
her
pale
skin,
her
luminous eyes large and expressive and filled with something Danica could only hope was love,
Black’s own
helpless
devotion reciprocated
. 

She smiled at the memories, even though they brought tears to her eyes. 

Do you love me?

I don’t know.

She was on an airship. 
She heard the hum of machinery and smelled
fuel
.  T
he large steel vessel
vibrated as it
barreled its way
across
the
frozen sky.

It was a large ship,
she guessed,
an Ironnaught
, which meant t
hey were on a long voyage
.
A vessel that big meant
Rake had brought plenty
of res
ources
along
.  Men, Scarecrows, vehicles. 

What the hell are you up to?  Why are you in bed with Koth?

No one came for her.  She was left alone in the dark. 
H
er spirit was distant and
blocked
off.  Shielded by the Fade
,
Raven. 

What do you want with me
, Rake?

I guess
we’ll use
you
after all
, he’d said.

Use me
for what?

She couldn’t come up with an answer.  From what she could tell, he just wanted
to make her suffer.

She slept.

S
he and Lara and Cross and Kane
are
all in the Black Hag back in Thornn.  The room bustle
s
with people. 
The air is bright in spite of the
tobacco
smoke.  People laugh and smile and dance.  The dark air swirl
s
with dissonant chords of tribal music and heavy beats.  The smell of bacon and bread is
strong
.

She sits at the table, and all three of them look at her gravely.  Their
bodies
fad
e
before her eyes.  The
y
begin to crumble
like
they
’re
made of
sand
.

She panics.  She reaches across for Lara, but her hands pass right through her
, and
Cole’s body
comes
apart and collapses into dust.

She reaches for Cross, and Kane.  She takes hold of them both, but her grip is tenuous.  They
’
re
slipping through
her grip, slowly coming apart.

They
’
ll both be gone soon.  She doesn’t have much time.

Danica
woke in darkness
.
A
gain.  Voices from dreams and memories plagued her thoughts. 

The air was colder than before. 
G
usts of
cold
wind push
ed
through the
gaps in the
steel-plated hull
.  T
he floor
dipped at a steep
angle
.  The
ship
must have been
flying through
some treacherous territory,
navigating
high peaks or sharp winds. 
Everything
lurched.

Danica slowly rose to her hands and knees.  Her body was rigid with pain.  Her spirit had never had the opportunity to fully
heal the wounds she’d suffered in
t
he Gauntlet, so her arm
and
leg were both tender
,
and they pulsed with hurt
.  A
t least they were
no longer
bleeding. 

Her back was sore, and her arms ached
so badly she
could barely
lift them
.  She
felt how
swollen
her face was
from the battle with Creyzak.

Lara.

Do you?

She stood up and stumbled through the darkness.
S
he
found a wall
, and slowly explored the perimeter of the room
. 
It seemed to be empty
, which meant they’d likely stuck her in a spare cargo hold. 
Ironnaughts
were
massive ships
designed to haul hundreds of prisoners at a time,
and they were
armed to the teeth in case they ran into any trouble. 
Even if Rake brought a massive force
along
there’d
still
be rooms to spare for the likes of her.

I’m not done yet, you bastards.  You know me,
Rake.  You know I won’t die easily
.

She found
a recess in the wall, and after she probed around for a minute she
realized it was the hatch door
with a rotating wheel handle that was undoubtedly locked from the outside.

It occurred to her they must have placed her in some sort of shielded chamber.  She doubted very much that Raven was just standing
around
outside
so Black couldn’t channel her spirit.

She rested her face against the
cold metal
.  The Ironnaughts weren’t terribl
y
well insulated.  The heat she’
d
felt when she’d
first
woken hadn’t been from the engines
but from whatever lay
outside
.  That meant they’d started off near the Scorpion Desert, not far from Black Scar, and now
that
it wa
s colder they were likely
entering
the
north.  They were
probably
somewhere
in
t
he Reach.

And what the hell
do you want there,
Rake
?  The Reach was
barren tundra, a no man’s land populated by tribes of uncivilized creatures.  Aside from some scattered settlements
,
there was very little to be found in the area.

But there are lost cities there
, she reminded herself. 
Places like Karamanganjii. 
The last place she’d seen Lara until
they’d both been taken in Blacksand
.

God damn you
,
she
thought
.
You knew they’d kill her anyway
s.  Why did you give them Cross?

You have to fix this.  I don’t how, but you
have
to.

She st
oo
d at the door.  She listened.

S
he heard beastly roars
that she thought
came
from below.  Th
at meant th
ey were carrying Ebonbacks, and
maybe
Razorwings.  Of course, if the Kothians
had tagged along then
there was no telling what
sorts of undead monstrosities might
have
be
en
on the ship
. 

The fact that Rake had chosen
to
all
y
T
he Revengers
with
the undead of Koth turned her stomach.  If there was any modicum of kinship or familiarity left
for
her former allies
,
it
had been
dispelled
by
that arrangement.
 
It didn’t matter that
some of
T
he
Revengers might
not
agree with the
alliance: none of them
would oppose Rake.  Even his
co-founders
hadn’t been strong enough to stop him from taking
over
the
prison
. 
T
he Revengers
would follow
him
no matter what
, and that made each and every one of them
her
enemy.

Black searched around the door, desperate for a way out
, even though she knew there wasn’t one
.

Save your strength.  Prepare your mind.  When an opportunity comes, you
’ll
have to seize it.

T
he door opened.  It might have been hours
later
. 

Danica
was sitting
on the floor
.
  She rested
and meditat
ed
as best she could.  Kane had taught her some yoga on the
ir
lengthy train
trip
along the Dubrakki Railway, and she found it helped calm her mind
sometimes
.