The Rabbit and the Raven: Book Two in the Solas Beir Trilogy (29 page)

It was the face that offered a glimpse of just what that might be. It was human-shaped, but somehow those soulless eyes and the smile, that hungry,
hungry
smile, twisted the face into an expression of evil that frightened Abby more than anything she’d encountered before. More even than the Kruorumbrae themselves.

Something about that face revealed how relentless this thing would be once it got hold of you. For this thing, silver swords and protective circles were useless. It didn’t play by the
same rules as the Kruorumbrae. It had existed long before such rules were made.

The thing was getting closer, slow-shuffling its way to them, not worried about hurrying. It had all the time in the world. And it had brought friends.

Abby turned to David. “Need help?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm. She didn’t think he would find it terribly encouraging if he knew how frightened she was.

“Almost there,” he said. He was focused solely on the door, ignoring everything else. He had covered the carving of Thoth with his hands, and light was seeping out from beneath his palms, radiating to the edges of the door, bathing it in a pulsating sheet of blue.

There was a tiny popping noise, and the door unsealed. David pushed it all the way open, and a handful of sand poured out onto the marble floor of the museum. “We’re in!” he shouted.

David took Abby’s hand, dragging her through the portal. The moment her feet touched the warm sand, the heaviness lifted from
her shoulders. Abby turned to watch the others pass through.

“Thank goodness,” Marisol whispered, almost diving through the door in her scramble to follow David and Abby.

Jon and Cael walked backward together, facing the places where the dark forms seemed to be gaining in density. Then Cael grabbed Jon’s arm, and they quickly stepped through the portal.

Jon shielded his eyes against the intensity of a midday sun and the harsh glare reflecting off the sand at his feet. Then he turned back to look through the doorway, and a scream caught in his throat.

“You see them now, don’t you Jon?” Abby asked quietly.

He could feel Abby’s eyes on him, but he didn’t turn in her direction. As much as he wanted to look away from the portal, he couldn’t wrench his gaze from the things shuffling toward the doorway. He feared that the second he looked away, he would feel long, cold fingers wind around his neck and tighten like a vise. From the murderous looks on the creatures’ faces, this seemed like a perfectly valid fear.

“I see them. They look like people.” Jon’s voice cracked, and with great effort, he swallowed, trying to force back the horror that threatened his sanity.

“But they’re not,” Abby said.

“No. They’re not,” Jon replied. If he sounded calmer, it was a fluke. He was terrified.

“We should really shut the portal,” Abby urged.

“Yes, we should,” Jon said. He wanted to, but couldn’t seem to make his muscles obey, to take a step closer to the door. His limbs felt heavy, like petrified wood. And he couldn’t tear his eyes from what he was seeing. None of them could.

One of the creatures had almost made it to the portal. It vaguely resembled the woman in the low-cut dress Jon had noticed playing poker earlier. But that woman had definitely been human. He was fairly certain this thing didn’t have a soul.

This must be what Abby had seen preying on the man at the blackjack table. The thing smiled as it reached for Jon, almost touching the sheet of blue light hanging in the doorway. Then it hesitated, the hungry smile frozen on its face.

Maybe it recognized the source of the light and thought it might get burned. Jon hoped it would.
Reach out and touch it,
he thought, his fear turning to anger.
Go right ahead. See what happens.

Instead, the thing turned to Marisol and whispered her name. Marisol was frozen with fear. She stared back, speechless. She looked scared to death; her tan skin faded to a dull
, lifeless grey.

The thing’s smile stretched wider across its face. Then it spoke to her, and its rasping voice made Jon’s skin crawl. “Remember all those nights you pulled the covers up tight over your head, and you were so, so scared you weren’t alone? You weren’t.”

Jon looked from Marisol to the thing, and the last of his fear vanished, replaced by rage. He stepped protectively in front of his girl. “Yeah, that’s old news. Shove off.” He grabbed the edge of the stone door to slam it closed. It was heavy, and met with resistance against the sand.

Marisol seemed to come to her senses. She joined him in the effort, pressing her weight against the door. Together they heaved it shut. The blue light winked out as the edges of the door sealed against the frame, generating a small puff of air that stirred the sand at their feet. They stared at the door for a second, and then Marisol threw her arms around Jon and kissed him. “Thanks,” she whispered.

Jon grinned. “Anytime.”

Abby sighed with relief and held the Sign of the Throne out to David.

“You can hold onto it if you want,”
he said.

“I think it’s safer with you,” she
replied. “Your powers have gotten stronger. You didn’t need the Sign to open the door.”

David slipped the silver chain around his neck again. “I think you’re right. I’m not even tired.” He kissed her cheek, then turned his attention to their surroundings. The door was set into a towering rock spire. To the west was nothing but sand dunes, and to the east was a city, far off in the distance. “Where are we?”

Cael craned his neck to look up. “The Eye of the Needle.”

“Guess the shortcut worked,” Jon said, squeezing Marisol’s hand.

“Thanks, Sol,” Abby said. “That was brilliant. You just saved us a whole lot of time.”

“Anytime,” Marisol replied, beaming at Jon.

David studied the stone door. What was strange was that the symbol carved on the Cai Terenmare side of the door was different than the image of Thoth on the Las Vegas side of the door.
The human side
, he corrected himself, feeling that increasingly familiar sense of disorientation that came from trying to reconcile his so-called human life with this one. It was funny how he still felt human, even though he had never been one. “Hey, guys—look at the symbol on this side of the door. Thoth has been replaced by a winged woman.”

“It looks like Erela, doesn’t it?” Abby asked.

Cael nodded. “The Daughters of Mercy guard this portal.”

“Or it could be Isis,” Marisol shared. “Protector of the dead.”

“So why Thoth on one side, and Isis on the other?” David asked.

“Maybe whoever made the door thought it was a passage to the underworld,” Marisol suggested. “To pass into the land of the spirits, Anubis had to give approval for entrance. Thoth was the keeper of knowledge, and also recorded the judgment of who was allowed to enter the underworld—in other words,
he was the keeper of knowledge about who was allowed to pass through the door. It would make sense that his image was inscribed on the human side of the door. And maybe whoever crossed over to the Cai Terenmare side encountered a Daughter, and that reinforced the legend about Isis.”

“If they encountered a Daughter, they really
would
be going to the underworld,” David said. “And speaking of, where
are
the Daughters?”

“I don’t know,” Abby answered. “It’s a little too quiet, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Cael replied. “I would have expected to see them circling the Eye, guarding the portal from above.”

David tilted his head back to take in the narrow tower of stone. At the very top he could just make out the cave of the Daughters of Mercy. The rock spire reminded him vaguely of the Washington Monument, but perhaps a more primitive version of it, with rough granite sides rather than walls smoothed by a stonemason’s hand. He couldn’t be sure, but if pressed, he would have guessed the obelisk-shaped formation was at least five hundred feet tall.

The skies above the Eye of the Needle were empty, a bright, cloudless blue—the kind of sky that would have been cheerful if it weren’t arching over such a lifeless place. In the soundless breeze, wisps of sand drifted over the small dunes surrounding them. To the west, both the dunes and the sense of desolation grew.

“I hate this place,” Abby said. “Bad things have happened here. I feel like something evil is watching me, and the air stinks.”

David scrunched his nose. She was right. The air smelled rank, like something dead and decomposing. “I don’t like it either,” David agreed, taking Abby’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

“The city is nearly a day’s walk to the east,” Cael said. “We should reach it as night falls.” He began walking toward the city in the distance. David and Abby followed.

Jon watched as Marisol took one more look at the carving of the winged woman, tracing the wings with her finger. He held out his hand, and when she turned toward him, she saw it and slipped her hand into his. He grinned.

“What?” she asked.

“You,” he said. “I like being with a girl who’s smart
and
hot.”

“Thanks,” she smil
ed. Then she eyed him seriously. “But…if you had to choose between being with a smart girl or being with a hot girl, which one would you choose?”

“But I
don’t
have to choose,” Jon said, confused.

“But if you did?”

“Is this a test?” he asked hesitantly.

“Maybe,” she smiled. “Humor me. So would you go with answer A, brains, or answer B, beauty?”

“Answer C. All of the above,” he countered.

“You can’t answer C. That’s not one of the choices.”

“Well, it’s not a fair question, Sol,” Jon argued. “I like everything about you. But if what you’re really asking is, would I still like you if something terrible happened and you were no longer beautiful, then the answer is yes. I would still like you. Do I pass?”

Marisol kissed his cheek. “Yes, you pass.”

“Good. Now let’s catch up to the others,” he said.

Jon started walking, suddenly aware that the others were far ahead, making tracks, and he and Marisol were still
standing in a place that smelled like death. Even if the Daughters weren’t home at the moment, he felt like prey.

“Okay,” she began, matching pace with his fast walk, “but just for the sake of argument, what if something terrible happened and I wasn’t smart anymore?”

“Don’t push your luck, lady,” he laughed, pulling her into a jog.

As they caught up with the others, Cael stopped short, holding up his hand.

“What is it?” Jon asked.

“Riders,” Cael informed him. “From the city. They approach with great speed.”

In the distance, Jon could see a cloud of dust sweeping toward them. “That can’t be good.”

Chapter Eleven

CITY OF THE EASTERN ORACLE

T
wenty riders were galloping fast in full armor, carrying flags emblazoned with the crest of the Eastern Oracle, a red dragon. They reined their mounts to an abrupt halt several yards away from the travelers, and the leader of the party dismounted.

David’s hand automatically dropped to the hilt of his sword. The man walked confidently toward him and removed his helmet. Then he dropped to one knee
and bowed his head. “Hail, Solas Beir. I wish you peace and prosperity all the years of your reign.”

“Thank you,” David replied, surprised. “Please—rise.”

The knight rose to his feet. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” His shoulder-length, sandy-blond hair was secured with a black leather tie, and he had a neatly trimmed beard. A scarlet cloak was secured to the polished black chest plate of his armor with gold medallions, signifying his role as captain of the city guard.

In contrast, the uniforms of his soldiers were more utilitarian, suits of dull black armor with the crest of the Eastern Oracle embossed in red on their chest plates.

“My lord, the Eastern Oracle, sends his welcome,” the knight said.

“How did he know we were coming?” David asked.

“My master sees much,” the knight replied. “He sends his apologies. He had wished to greet you personally, but his attention was required for urgent business in the city.”

“All is well, I hope?” David asked.

The knight nodded. “Very well, indeed. The oracle has asked that I escort you to lodgings prepared specially for your visit. We hope they will meet with your approval.”

“I’m sure they will. Thank you, Sir…?”

“Hedeon. My name is Hedeon. If it please you, Sire, we have brought swift horses to carry you. You must be weary from your travels.” Five of the riders dismounted and led the extra horses over, leashed to theirs.