Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (31 page)

Chapter 33

“
Reinforcements,” a voice
shouted from the entrance to Firen Caves.

My heart, which had started to pound heavily
as soon as the Caves came into view, threatened to stop entirely at
the voice. Chaxa, the Luminos head guard that had whipped me before
I was kidnapped, appeared followed by a dozen Luminos in bandages
and carrying weapons. I wondered why it looked so strange to me,
then realized I had never seen anyone but Duskies at Firen Caves
carry more than whips. For the first time, I wondered why I had
never used the weapons to our advantage and rebelled, but looking
at Chaxa and confronting the old feelings of fear and subordination
I had battled every day there, I couldn’t second-guess my
actions.

Chaxa stopped a few feet from us; his eyes
went from Axon to me and they widened in surprise, then narrowed.
“You dare return here?” he growled.

Chaxa was already uncoiling his whip when
Axon stepped forward. A growl rolled from him that I had never
heard before, one filled with menace and violence and so much venom
I doubted anyone who heard it would ever forget the fire that ran
through Axon’s veins. “If you ever lay a finger on Nexa or any
other Duskie again, I will personally stake you in the middle of
the desert and leave you for the Sathen and sand crabs to
finish.”

Chaxa’s mouth opened, then he closed it
again.

Axon gave a small, humorless smile. “I don’t
know if I introduced myself properly the last time I was here. I am
Axon Lumarus, Prince of Lumini.”

Chaxa’s eyes grew even wider, which I
wouldn’t have believed possible if I hadn’t seen it. He gaped at
Axon, then at me, then stared at the men behind us. The head guard
then simply turned and walked back into the Caves.

Axon watched until the man disappeared from
view. His hands slowly opened from fists so tight the knuckles had
turned white. He took a calming breath, then turned to me. “Are you
alright?”

I nodded, a lump in my throat.

He touched my elbow reassuringly, then
turned to face the other men Chaxa had left. “We have a lot of work
to do. I need a complete tour of the Caves before nightfall.”

The Luminos quickly complied, walking Axon
through the main rooms of the red rock Caves with quick efficiency.
I ignored the memories that threatened to overwhelm me when we
passed my chamber, the kitchen, the empty Duskie nursery, the
pools, and the medical cavern full of wounded Luminos and
Nathos.

Axon asked the question I was loath to.
“Where are the Duskies?”

One of our tour guides glanced back over his
shoulder. “They were all killed in the first wave,” he said in a
nonchalant tone.

I don’t know why the statement sent such a
dagger through my heart. We had never been friends. Friendship had
been strictly forbidden and reinforced with whips and fists. But
they were all I had from my childhood, the only people who truly
knew what I went through. We had suffered together and survived
together. I stopped walking. The thought of all the Duskies lying
dead in the cold burial chamber in the lowest cave made it hard to
breathe.

Axon grabbed my hand and held it tight in
his own. I closed my eyes and let his strength hold me up. He put
my fingers to his lips and his hot breath washed over my hand like
a healing balm. “Duskies will never have to survive these Caves
again,” he whispered. “No one will.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. I opened
them again to see our Luminos guide staring at me with a deeply
apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry, I really am. I spoke
callously and didn’t think.”

It was my turn to stare. I recognized the
guard and he knew me. He had never participated in my punishment or
any of the other cruel acts at the Caves, but he had been raised
with the same animalistic outlook regarding Duskies. The fact that
he seemed truly sorry helped more than I could express. I nodded
and Axon kissed my fingers again reassuringly, then motioned for
the Luminos to continue with the tour. I forced away the
overwhelming sorrow rising in my chest. It wouldn’t help anyone if
I broke down now.

By the time we finished our tour, I could
tell by the pallor of Axon’s cheeks that night was falling rapidly.
He leaned against a pillar of red stone in the meeting chamber and
looked at the ground in front of him with distant eyes. Other
members of our party and several of the surviving uppers from the
Caves, including Chaxa, also stood and sat in silence around the
chamber. No one could agree on an idea to trap the Sathen, and the
longer we debated, the closer the next attack came.

“
They could be here at
dusk,” Dereter, a Luminos commander I recognized from the upper
levels said unnecessarily.

“
So you recommend just
waiting to be slaughtered?” Dathien asked, a bite of sarcasm to his
tone.

“
I have a plan,” I said
quietly.

Everyone looked at me and I levelly met the
mixed looks of vehemence and disgust from the inhabitants of the
Caves. Dathien stepped closer to my side and they looked away.
Axon’s eyes locked on mine and I knew he guessed my thoughts before
I spoke them because he shook his head. “We’re in this together or
none of us.”

I returned his gaze calmly and willed my
pounding heart to slow. “We'll set the remaining mining explosives
on every level of the Caves, lure the Sathen inside, then trap them
and kill them all in one blast. Everyone else will hide behind the
tents at the top of the dunes where the Sathen don’t seem to
travel.” He was already shaking his head again, but I continued on,
“I’ll get the Sathen to chase me into the Caves, then someone will
trigger an avalanche that will close off the main entrance.” Axon
pushed off from his pillar. I concluded, “I’ll escape through the
kitchen hatch and someone can close off that exit before the Sathen
can follow me out, then we'll blow the explosives.”

“
No, never,” Axon said
fervently. “You’re not doing it.”

“
And someone else can?” I
challenged.

I met his eyes and he looked away. I turned
back to the others. “I’ve been through every tunnel here a million
times. I know these Caves inside and out and I am the best one to
do it.” I glanced at Chaxa with a faint rise of defiance, but he
refused to meet my eyes. “Besides,” I said, turning back to Axon,
“The Sathen attack at dusk and dawn, so it has to be a Duskie that
does it, and I’m the only one who knows the Caves.”

Pyth stepped forward. “You can't do it on
your own. The Sathen will enter the Caves if there are enough
people for them to eat, otherwise they might be distracted by the
smell of those on the dunes and go to them instead.” He crossed his
arms. “We leave some Duskies to defend those on the dunes, and the
rest can help lead the Sathen through the Caves. It'll be necessary
to get them as deep into the Caves as possible, so the more targets
they can chase and the more lost we can make them, the better.”

I shook my head before Axon could agree.
“You have a wife and children waiting for you in Lumini, and
there’s no way you could learn these Caves fast enough. The exit
might be blocked and you would be lost and killed before anyone
could save you.”

“
The same could happen to
you,” my Duskie Lieutenant challenged.

I tried to listen to reason. I didn't want
to put any more lives in danger than was necessary, but Pyth was
right. I couldn't do it alone as much as I would have preferred to.
“We involve as few Duskies as we can, and everyone gets out of
their exit as soon as possible.”

“
Exactly,” Pyth
agreed.

“
And I go the deepest. My
knowledge of the Caves could mean life or death for all of us. It
has to be me.”

The Lieutenant nodded. “You'll teach
everyone their exits, and we'll wait for you at yours and blow the
Caves as soon as you escape.”

“
It'll be the best way,” I
agreed. “We'll need to rig the other exits so when the Duskies
leave they can block them so the Sathen can't get
through.”

Axon laced his hands behind his head and
stared at the ceiling as if hoping a different answer was written
there. “There has to be another way.”

I touched his arm. “We don’t have time to
figure it out if there is. The Luminos would need torches to
navigate the Caves, and there’s no guarantee that the Sathen will
attack at night for the Nathos to help. It has to be the Duskies;
we can do this.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled
me close so that he stared at me, his icy blue eyes intense and
almost angry. “You can’t keep sacrificing yourself.”

“
You do,” I
whispered.
His eyes widened and he looked as if he wanted to argue, but he
finally closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t like this,” he
said quietly.

“
Neither do I.”

His face took on a pained expression. “Are
you sure you can do it?”

I nodded despite the fact that I wasn’t sure
at all. “We need something to lure the Sathen to the Caves. We
can’t guarantee they’ll attack.”

“
And that’s a bad thing?”
Chaxa asked with heavily laced disdain in his words.

I glanced at him. “We have to force them to
attack when we’re ready, and not leave it up to them. We also need
something to draw them deep into the Caves. Chasing the Duskies
might lure them in, but we need something to keep them there.”

A small Luminos cook from the Caves cleared
his throat. “Blood.” Everyone looked at him and he swallowed. “The
Sathen are attracted to blood. We could line the halls and have
something waiting for them in the bottom caves that would draw them
down.”

“
But we don’t have any
animals to use,” a Luminos soldier said quietly. “Too bad we didn’t
bring a lamak.”

Commander Jashen stood up. “The other
Sathen. We slaughtered hundreds of them. Dragging their bodies here
will lead the horde and we can pull them to the bottom caves. We
already know they don’t care if they eat each other or anything
else. They just want meat.”

Axon let out a slight breath that meant he
accepted the plan even if he didn’t like it. “Commander Jashen,
take your men to the Sathen’s bodies and bring them back as quickly
as possible. Lieutenant Pyth, gather the Duskies and lay out exits
through the Caves. Nexa will be along shortly to help out.”

Pyth nodded. “We'll start working on it.” He
left the room with his two Duskie commanders, Kennik and Erion,
following.

Axon turned back to the Luminos from the
Caves. “Follow Pyth and rig a way to close the main entrance; make
an avalanche with rocks from the caves. Place a second one at the
kitchen exit, and rig the other tunnels so they can be set off as
soon as the Duskies leave the Caves. We don't have much time until
sunset, so the faster we work, the better.” He gave me a stern look
to hide the worry that shone in his eyes. “You'd better start
teaching your Duskies the exits. The shorter the route, the better.
It'll be a high-stress situation, so the more confident they are
about their escape, the less likely they'll be to panic when
they're being chased by Sathen.”

Chapter 33

I left the meeting room and gathered all of
the Duskies together. It didn't take long to plan out the routes,
but precious time was spent running each Duskie through their own
cave path until they felt comfortable doing it alone. I set up
short routes for those who were wounded, and longer ones for the
Duskies I knew were fast and able to defend themselves if something
went wrong. Everything depended on the Duskies getting out before I
did so that we could blow the explosives the instant I left the
Caves. But I knew as well as anyone that the Sathen didn't comply
very well with plans.

I made my way to the bottom caves and
watched Tadson, a older Luminos who used to lead the mining, as he
made some finishing touches to the explosives. He tied several
fuses together and slipped a leather strap around them to hold them
down. “How much more time do you need?” I asked.

He glanced at me and the expression in his
torch-lit eyes warred between disgust and reluctant acceptance.
“Not much longer. The other caves are set and I’ve shown your
Lieutenant how to work the trigger.”

I stood and studied the walls. Dozens of
tunnels branched away, some to dead ends and others to exhausted
mine shafts. None of the tunnels had been used for a very long
time, and even I hadn’t been down most of them. I thought of the
pain of the Caves and the uselessness of their existence. I was
glad they wouldn’t be around much longer.

I turned and walked back to the main tunnel,
but Tadson’s voice stopped me. “You sure you know what you’re
doing?” he asked in a low voice.

I glanced back at him, but his attention was
on the fuses. “I’ll do what I can.”

“
It might not be
enough.”

I let out a breath. “It’s better than
sitting around and letting them pick us off at their leisure. At
least we’re doing something.”

He sat back on his heels, his eyes still on
the fuses. After a moment, he glanced at me. “You won’t be the only
one glad to see these tunnels gone for good.” His lips lifted
briefly in what could be taken for a smile before he turned back to
the fuses.

Surprised, I waited to see if he would
explain, but when he didn’t, I turned and jogged back up the tunnel
to check on the others.

“
Are you almost done?” I
asked Commander Jashen.

“
Almost,” he said, his
voice exhausted. I followed him along the bloody path through the
lower levels where chopped up piles of Sathen parts had been left
in various areas. The scent of blood and refuse was so strong I
could barely stand to walk through the room. If that didn’t lure
the Sathen down, I didn’t know what would.