The Cypher Wheel (24 page)

After every time she had visited, Arawn would demand
her presence and make her recite their conversation word for word,
over and over again. It became apparent, after weeks of visits,
that Allora didn’t know anything about Todmus's whereabouts. Either
that or Allora had seen through Alyssa's deceit, which made Alyssa
feel even worse.

When Arawn came to realize Allora knew nothing of any
importance, he forbade Alyssa from any more visits. He never
allowed her anything he thought may give her a fraction of
happiness or comfort. That didn't stop the young Lightbender,
though. She would still sneak down there, risking a severe beating
if she ever got caught, and sit on the cold damp floor and talk
with her friend for hours.

She wondered now if Arawn had known all the time that
she was sneaking down to visit with her friend. Had he been testing
spells out on her without her knowledge, until he found one that
enabled him to see her when she thought she was invisible? Maybe
that was his ploy all along, to make sure he would know where she
was at all times.

So much for their plan. Alyssa had entered Arawn's
chambers with an air of confidence knowing Etyran was standing
right beside her. She cringed when she thought of the outright lies
she had told the sorcerer. Not because she had lied, but because he
was all the while sitting there with a smug grin plastered across
his face knowing the full extent of her deception.

Now it made perfect sense when they had first
entered. His expression had shifted and his eyes flicked to her
side. It was just a split second lapse before he resumed his usual
indifferent air that, at the time, she had hardly noticed. He
played her well, feigning interest in her lies. Leaning forward,
chin in hand, elbow resting on the table. Arawn even let her finish
her elaborately made-up tale before his face turned an explosive
shade of red. He held her and her companion with an invisible force
while he summoned the guards and had them both thrown in the
dungeon.

The thing that haunted her the most was his menacing
look as he turned the key, locking them in. “I'll deal with you
later,” he'd said before whipping around and stomping up the stone
steps.

Alyssa caught herself staring at the spot on the
floor just outside the cell door where Arawn's robes had swept a
semi-circle in the straw upon his departure. He would come back to
punish her, she had no doubt. Even with all of Etyran's good
intentions, she was as good as dead and so was he.

She could hear someone's voice at the edge of her
consciousness. Alyssa pulled herself back into the here and now,
not sure how long she had been deep in thought. She allowed her
gaze to follow the sound back to the handsome face and calming
solace of Etyran's eyes.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” Etyran said, with a quirky
smile on his face.

She couldn't help but return his smile. Even in the
dire situation they found themselves in, Etyran made Alyssa smile.
It had been a very long time since anyone, especially a man, had
made her smile. Just what was it about this roguish character that
made her heart quicken? She consoled herself with the fact that if
these were indeed her last moments, she knew of no one else she
would rather spend them with.

“Where did you go?” Etyran asked, referring to her
drifting off into space.

“Nowhere worth mentioning,” Alyssa replied.

“I will not let him hurt you,” Etyran reiterated, his
expression resolute.

Alyssa smiled again. If only he knew the futility of
his words. She almost felt sorry for him at that moment. He had no
clue who he was dealing with. Instead, she cupped his cheek in the
palm of her hand. She noticed his eyes widen in surprise at her
gesture. She also noticed her skin tingled where it touched
his.

“Where did you come from? And why do I only get to
meet you now?” she whispered.

They stared at each other for a while, trying to
search the others' soul, neither one daring to break the
tranquility of the moment.

“Well, isn't this just all kinds of cozy?” a
maleficent voice shattered the silence.

Alyssa felt Etyran stiffen under her hand a split
second before he rose up from the roughhewn bench they were sitting
on and planted himself firmly in front of her. A wall of muscle and
bulk blocked her view from the tyrant who would have to get past
Etyran first. She had to admit, if he was going up against another
man, and not the force of evil he was trying to protect her from,
she would have no doubt he would win. But he wasn't, and he would
lose. Alyssa dropped her head in acceptance of her fate.

Arawn raked Etyran up and down with a look of
disdain. “Oh, how very noble of you, Lightbender,” he said with a
sneer.

“I will not let you hurt her,” Etyran said, standing
firm.

Arawn barked out a humorless laugh before bringing
his hand up.

In the next instant Etyran was slammed up against the
rough wall of the dungeon cell. The crack of his skull meeting
stone made Alyssa's insides turn on themselves.

“Stop it!” Alyssa cried. “Don't hurt him.” She ran
over to where Etyran was still pinned against the wall, his feet
dangling a foot from the floor. She turned to Arawn. “I'll tell you
anything you want to know.”

Arawn turned his sneer onto the female Lightbender's
stricken expression. The pleading in her eyes was the source of
more amusement.

“Oh, I know you will,” he said.

Etyran started rasping. Alyssa turned back to see him
grab for his throat, looking like he was trying to loosen something
from around his neck. His face was turning a nasty shade of red as
his eyes started to bulge.

She turned and ran to the bars and dropped to her
knees. “Stop it, I beg you,” she pleaded. “I'll do anything you
ask. Just, please, don't hurt him.”

“No.” The strangled one-syllabled word was all Etyran
could squeeze out.

The expression on Arawn's face turned from amusement
to boredom in the blink of an eye. He made a motion with his hand
as if throwing something away...hard.

Alyssa heard another crack and turned just as Etyran
crumpled to a heap on the floor. She ran over to his unconscious
body and threw herself down beside him. She lifted his head off the
ground with care, laying it on her lap. Blood trickled from his
temple onto her tunic.

“Oh, no. Please, don't be dead,” she whispered as she
touched his neck, feeling for a pulse. She felt a couple of strong
beats just before she was grabbed by her hair and lifted from the
floor. Etyran's head fell from her lap as she was dragged away,
hitting the stone floor with yet another crack.

Pain shot through Alyssa's scalp. She grabbed at her
hair trying to loosen the tyrant's hold on it, but to no avail. She
had been so worried about her new-found friend, she hadn't even
noticed the key turn in the clunky iron lock. Her feet skimmed
across the floor as her captor dragged her through the cell door.
He threw her down on the dirty straw-covered ground while he locked
the door. Her hands cupped her scalp like a beanie hat in an
attempt to protect herself from being dragged by her hair
again.

It worked. Arawn leaned over and grabbed her by the
crook of her raised arm instead.

He looked back at the cell. “I'll have some fun with
you later,” he snarled at Etyran who still lay motionless on the
floor. He tugged Alyssa hard and dragged her out of the dungeon.
Alyssa looked back on her way up the steps. Her heart splintered as
her eyes fell upon the man, still lying prostrate on the floor,
blood trickling down his face.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“What are you going to do to me?” Alyssa whimpered as
she was being dragged up the steps from the dungeon.

“Oh, something suitably fitting for your level of
betrayal,” Arawn replied with obvious glee in his voice.

He wrenched Alyssa's arm with a sharp tug, dragging
her to keep up with him. She felt a twinge in her shoulder and bit
her lip to stop from crying out in pain. He was taking the steps
two at a time. She was finding it hard to stay by his side so she
could avoid having her arm ripped out of its socket. What he had in
store for her was bound to be much worse than this, and although
she was terror stricken at that moment, she was not about to give
him any satisfaction earlier than was necessary.

When he reached the top step, he picked up his pace
even more, his long strides covering the cold flagstone floor much
quicker that Alyssa could hope to accomplish without trotting to
keep up.

Without warning, Alyssa came crashing to the floor,
having tripped on one of the uneven flagstones, ripping herself
from Arawn's grasp, as she did so.

He whirled around and paced the couple of strides it
took to get back to where she was laying on the ground.

“You stupid little wench,” he spat as he leaned down
and grabbed her wrist in a death-grip ready to haul her up off the
floor. “Get up, before I kick you all the way down this...What
the...?”

Alyssa looked up just in time to see Arawn's eyes
widen in disbelief. He was looking down the corridor where they had
just come from. In the next second, she could hear the tinkle of
glass. She then saw a bright blue light, and finally, a puff of
smoke.

Alyssa turned her head, as best she could in the
position she lay. A small man emerged from the shadows. She looked
back to Arawn, who she noticed was no longer moving. What she saw
made her suck in a sharp breath.

Arawn was stock still, frozen to the spot, his
furious eyes still glaring down the corridor towards the dungeons.
For a second, Alyssa held her breath, not daring to move, in case
she be the one to set him in motion again. When he was still static
a moment later, she hesitantly lifted her other hand and prodded
his cheek with her finger. His skin was still pliable. For a
moment, she wondered if it would be solid as stone. He certainly
looked like a carved statue.

After she'd gotten over the initial shock that her
aggressor was frozen to the spot, her brain kicked in and told her
to get out of his grasp as fast as possible. Alyssa tried to pull
her wrist free only to find it was stuck fast in Arawn's unyielding
grip. Cringing, she reached up with her free hand and peeled each
individual finger back from where they were crushing her skin. Her
eyes didn't leave his face the entire time. Her heart pounded
within her ribcage at the thought he may unfreeze at any second and
her fate would be sealed once more.

Arawn's grip left choleric red marks around her
wrist; she absentmindedly rubbed her skin as she sat upright and
turned to the person who had just saved her.

“Who are you?” Alyssa asked the ruddy faced man.

“No time for that now,” he replied, walking towards
her and Arawn. “That spell is not going to keep him under for long.
We have a few minutes, at best. Now, I need to free my wife and
child.” He reached the sorcerer and unhooked the ring of keys from
his belt.

Alyssa's eyes widened as she comprehended who the
little man was. “You're Todmus.”

Todmus looked back at the Lightbender and winked
before turning and marching towards the dungeons.

“Wait,” Alyssa called after him. “Allora's not down
there.”

Todmus stopped on the top step and turned. “Do you
know where she is?”

Alyssa hesitated for a second, took a deep breath and
answered as best she could. “Well, her body is with the ovates in
the hidden cave.”

All color drained from Todmus's face and Alyssa
realized how that must have sounded.

“Oh! She's not dead,” she said quickly. “Arawn
switched her body with Vivianna's.”

That garnered her a creased brow from the dwarf.

“Vivianna is in Allora's body in the ovate's cave,
and Allora is in Vivianna's body in the castle dungeons in Azran.”
She still wasn't entirely sure she was making any sense. It sounded
crazy even to her and she'd seen it with her own eyes.

“And my daughter, Skylar?”

“She was safe last time I saw her. She is with
Allora… I mean Vivianna.”

“Then we must make haste,” Todmus said striding away
from the dungeons.

“No, wait,” Alyssa said again.

Todmus stopped and sighed, his expression
strained.

“We have to help my friend. He's still down there,”
she looked towards the dungeons. “And he's badly hurt. Please, you
have to help me.”

Alyssa pushed herself up from the floor and dusted
herself down. Todmus noticed the blood on her tunic and took a step
towards her. “You are bleeding, miss. Where are you hurt?”

“It's not mine, it's Etyran's!” Alyssa sped off
towards the dungeons, taking the steps two at a time.

“Etyran is here? What is Etyran doing here?” Todmus
called after her, his short strides inhibiting him from keeping up
with her.

“It's a long story.” Alyssa's voice echoed up the
stairwell. “I'll explain everything once we get Etyran and get out
of here.”

When they reached the bottom of the steps, Etyran was
still sprawled out unconscious on the cell floor. Todmus fumbled
with the keys, taking two attempts to find the right one to open
the wrought iron door.

Alyssa burst through the door and fell to her knees
beside Etyran. She leaned over and positioned her ear just above
his mouth. Todmus stood watching, concern plastered over his
features.

“Thank the Goddess, he's still breathing,” Alyssa
said to Todmus.

Etyran let out a weak groan on an exhale of
breath.

“Etyran, it's me, Alyssa. Can you hear me? Todmus is
here and we're going to get you out.” She looked back at Todmus.
“Can you help me get him to his feet?”

Todmus raised his eyebrows. He was half the size of
the hulking Lightbender laid out on the floor. Nevertheless, he
positioned himself on the other side of Etyran.