Death Weavers (16 page)

Hunter appeared. Cole felt confused. Hunter was slumped on the ground on the opposite edge of his vision from Jace. And yet he had just materialized between Cole and Sando.

The Hunter who had just appeared dove toward Jace, snatched the crossbow, rolled, and aimed. The quarrel hit Tuto in the chest.

And suddenly, the stretched feeling in Cole's neck ended. His other muscles relaxed as well. He could move!

Without pause, Cole drew his sword and charged Sando. The elderly beggar snarled and shuffled away from him. Reaching into his loose sleeve, Sando withdrew a knife, the blade much shorter than the Jumping Sword.

Cole didn't slow. He hacked at Sando's neck, but the beggar ducked and slid away, swinging his knife but not quite reaching Cole's belly. Hunter had his sword in hand and quickly looped around behind Sando. The beggar noticed and lunged toward Cole, trying to stab him, but Cole knocked the blade aside with his sword, then slashed Sando's arm with a return stroke.

Sando vanished with a shrill yelp.

Hunter disappeared as well, his sword falling to the ground.

Tuto lay in the dirt, a shaft jutting from his ribs, chest hitching as redness gurgled from his lips. His eyes were tightly closed, his face scrunched in agony.

Cole ran to Mira. Her hair lay across her face. He hesitated to touch her. She wasn't just asleep. Her body looked lifeless. He brushed the hair away and felt for a pulse in her neck. She wasn't breathing. He could find no pulse. How could she really be dead? This was a nightmare!

Hunter's body sat up, the abrupt motion drawing Cole's eye.

“She's gone,” Hunter said urgently. “Bring her body. I'll grab Jace.”

“Wait, how are you back?” Cole asked, looking to Jace, Joe, and Mira, wanting to see them stir. “What about them?”

“Nandavi didn't steal my lifespark,” Hunter said. “I crossed over on my own and stayed free. They're stuck there. Hurry.”

Hunter rushed to Jace, reached under his arms, and started pulling. Cole seized Mira the same way and walked backward, her legs dragging. He kept his head turned to monitor where he was going, which carried the benefit of letting him avoid looking at her.

But it was impossible not to feel her limp weight. Cole tried not to think. He was carrying Mira. She was not breathing. And it was his fault.

Hunter was moving faster. Cole managed to speed up a little but couldn't keep pace.

“What did you do?” Cole called, his words dampened by the oppressive atmosphere of Gamat Rue.

“I crossed over to the echolands,” Hunter said.

“Was that when you collapsed?” Cole asked.

“Yeah,” Hunter said, hauling Jace around a damaged fortification. “After a minute, I tried what the toothless old echo did. I brought my echo to the material world. I used the crossbow and chased your echo friend.”

“Sando,” Cole said, guilt writhing in his gut, shame tearing at him. “The echo is named Sando.” His lips now spoke the name without difficulty. Arrangement fulfilled, Cole supposed.

“Yeah, well, when he retreated to the echolands, I went after him, but I wouldn't have lasted against him and Nandavi, so I returned to my body.”

Cole focused on Hunter rather than the shifty ruins. They had almost reached the outermost wall.

“I didn't know you could do that,” Cole said.

“Neither did I,” Hunter replied. “First time.” Hunter passed the outermost rampart and raised his voice. “Dalton! Get up here! Bring a horse!”

12

C
ole positioned Mira beside Jace, and Hunter crouched between them, his hands on their foreheads. Hunter bowed his head.

“Can you help them?” Cole asked.

“Shhh,” Hunter hissed.

Cole tried to steady himself. Now that he was beyond the boundaries of Gamat Rue, it seemed like a regular day again. The temperature had warmed up. His voice sounded right. The sunlight had the correct brightness and color.

His head gently throbbed in sync with his heart. He was out of breath, sweaty, and still trying to shake off the effects of panic and shock. Otherwise, things were back to normal.

Except for his motionless friends sprawled in the brush.

“I should be able to keep their bodies stable,” Hunter said finally. “You and Dalton need to get Joe quickly.”

Dalton was on his way up the slope astride his horse.

“Wait,” Cole said. “They're alive?” Could he have been mistaken? Could Mira just be unconscious?

“They're in longsleep,” Hunter said. “The body can't live without the lifespark. But when the lifespark is removed before the death of the physical body, a faint connection remains. If that connection is strengthened by weaving, the body can be preserved. As long as the connection persists, they're not fully gone. In Necronum, an empty body can survive in stasis while the lifeforce is away. It's how I left my body to slip into the echolands when Tuto bound us. It's how mortal weavers visit the echolands without truly dying.”

“Should I try some CPR?” Cole asked. “Blow in their mouths?”

“We can't restore the lifespark that way,” Hunter explained. “The body didn't die. The spark was removed. But I can keep the bodies from rotting and help maintain the connection to their sparks. The heart barely beats, the lungs barely breathe, but the body can still accept the lifeforce if it returns.”

“We can still save them?” Cole asked desperately.

“There's a chance,” Hunter said.

“I don't get how their sparks left.”

“Nandavi did it,” Hunter said. “She ripped their lifesparks from them. Back home we might say she took their spirits. There was no physical damage. If Sando or Tuto had stabbed them, there might not be a functional body left behind.”

Dalton reached them, reining in his horse and dismounting.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Ambush,” Cole said. “Tuto turned on us. My echo friend too. Mira, Jace, and Joe are basically dead.”

“Dead?” Dalton exclaimed.

“Not completely,” Hunter said. “But we can't revive them without finding their echoes. You and Cole bring Joe here. We still might be able to save him too. I should stay with these bodies.”

“All right,” Cole said.

“Take off the pendants,” Hunter said. “Tuto was using them against us.”

Feeling angry and stupid, Cole pulled the pendant over his head and tossed it aside. Dalton chucked his in the opposite direction.

“The Gamat Rue echoes will harass you guys,” Hunter said. “It could get ugly. Don't agree to anything if they try to communicate. If they become tangible and attack, defend yourselves. Get Joe.”

Cole and Dalton ran back into Gamat Rue. As soon as he passed the remnant of the outermost wall, Cole found it became much harder to sprint. The air didn't want to part for him or fill his lungs, and gravity seemed to increase. The disorienting tricks of perspective started to make him feel dizzy. Cole slowed to a quick walk, and Dalton did likewise.

“Everything feels off,” Dalton said, the words weirdly muffled.

“This place is wrong,” Cole said. “Let's get Joe and get out.”

Cole ground his teeth. This was an emergency! Why was he walking? In defiance of the sluggish atmosphere, Cole upped his pace to a jog, and Dalton matched him.

The barren circle soon came into view. Sando looked tangible again, kneeling beside Tuto. The beggar looked over his shoulder and saw Cole, then rose, knife in hand. Blood dripped from the blade.

Cole drew his Jumping Sword and rushed toward the echo. Dalton brandished his short sword. Sando glanced at Joe's fallen form, then disappeared.

Tuto still had the arrow in his chest, but he was no longer wheezing. He lay still, his throat cut.

“Did he . . . ?” Dalton asked.

“Looks like it,” Cole said. “Sando probably wanted to hurry Tuto to the echolands. Joe looks untouched. Grab a leg.”

Keeping his sword out, Cole gripped Joe by one ankle and Dalton grabbed the other. They pulled him as quickly as they could manage.

“Going so soon?” asked Sando.

Glancing up, Cole saw that the beggar had reappeared in the barren circle. Cole scowled. Why did the echo's voice carry so well here when everyone else sounded far away?

“Keep going,” Cole grumbled to Dalton.

“I have Miracle, you know,” Sando said. “Reborn as an echo. Along with Jace and the fellow you're dragging.”

“Congratulations,” Cole yelled, pulling as hard as he could.

“Perhaps we could discuss—”

“No deals!” Cole shouted.

“You really should—”

Cole dropped Joe's ankle, spun, pointed his sword at Sando, and cried, “Away!”

The sword did not pull him forward. He hadn't felt his power, but he had so desperately wanted it to work that he thought maybe it might.

Sando chuckled through a grin. “You have some fire in you, young sir. I see why you amuse Nazeem. But that power of yours is a disaster. I could take a closer look if you wish. Make some recommendations?”

Cole took hold of Joe's ankle again and continued pulling. The beggar made no move to give chase. As Cole and Dalton progressed, a broken wall blocked Sando from view.

“You keep that body,” Sando said, no longer visible but his voice still plenty loud. “You deserve a souvenir. I will see you soon, maybe. Why pursue what wants to find you?”

“Want to go get him?” Dalton asked.

“Yes,” Cole said. “But he'll just disappear.”

A blunt blow struck Cole on the shoulder, making him drop his sword and Joe's leg, then an invisible force shoved his chest, and he stumbled over some rubble and fell. Dalton staggered away from Joe as well. Cole rose, and a rock the size of his fist flew by his head, brushing his ear. An invisible blow struck him behind the knees, and he was back on the ground.

“Stop it!” Cole yelled, punching and kicking the air around him, striking nothing.

One of Joe's legs lifted, and an unseen force started dragging him. Dalton lunged at Joe, swinging his sword at the air above the raised leg, and the blade seemed to connect with something. The leg fell.

“Hurry,” Cole said as he raced to Joe, picked up the Jumping Sword, and grabbed an ankle.

Waving their swords at the empty air around them, Cole and Dalton scrambled as fast as they could with a grown man in tow. A rock thumped painfully against Cole's back. Dalton grunted as a stone pelted his side.

Up ahead, past the final rampart, Cole saw Hunter pulling Jace down the slope. Mira already lay far beyond them.

“Almost there,” Cole encouraged. He dodged a rock that came from the side, then ducked one that sailed at him from up ahead.

“Keep going!” Hunter called as they passed beyond Gamat Rue and the air returned to normal.

“That's better,” Dalton said.

Back in regular atmosphere, they both picked up the pace. A couple of rocks flew by to either side. One struck Joe's thigh. As they proceeded down the slope, they moved out of range. Rocks stopped flying.

They halted when they reached Hunter, who crouched between Mira and Jace, his hands on their foreheads. Dalton's horse roamed off to one side, farther down the slope, grazing in the tall grass.

Hunter hurried to Joe, hunching over him and cupping his face. “He's not completely gone.”

“That's something,” Cole said with relief. Reaching behind himself, he tried to rub his back just to the side of his spine, where the rock had hit. He couldn't reach the spot very effectively. It sure ached.

“Should I go after my horse?” Dalton asked.

“Wait,” Hunter said. “It's not running off. We have more horses than riders now. I need to catch you guys up.”

“I still don't really get what happened,” Cole said. “Why didn't Nandavi just kill us too?”

“Let me guess,” Hunter said. “Jace and Joe volunteered somehow.”

“Sando told them he would take Mira to the echolands if they didn't,” Cole said.