The Underground Witch (Incenaga Trilogy) (37 page)

Emmeline’s
heart pumped faster, as if it suddenly spurred to life. A rush of blood spread through her veins and a whoosh of air entered her lungs. Her body seemed to come to life and she could sense every part of it.

Holding onto the strength of her soul, Emmeline
opened her mind to the outside world, ready to face it for the first time as a proud Incenaga. She opened her eyes and found Tiergan’s flushed face in front of her, his breath assaulting her.

“What is wrong with you? Kill them!” Tiergan shouted.
He thrust his pointed finger toward the desert.

“No,” she said.

Emmeline looked passed Tiergan to Demyan and he smiled as if she’d done exactly what he wanted. Tiergan followed her gaze and marched over to Demyan.

“Why isn’t she obeying me?” Tiergan demanded.

Without taking his eyes off her, Demyan replied. “She overcame you. She’ll never be controlled again.” He shook his head as if he still didn’t believe what she had done.

Tiergan flew toward Emmeline, his
hands held out like claws. She knew he had death on his mind, but without flinching she brushed her hand in the air in front of her and Tiergan’s entire bulk lifted as if he weighed no more than ash. Heat poured from her fingers as she sent him to the other end of the Balcony and hooked him on a brass sconce. He kicked and thrashed against the wall, cursing as he swung back and forth like a puppet. Clawing behind him, he tried to break his clothing free, but his arms were too thick to reach very far. Emmeline smiled, pleased with her work. She’d figure out what to do with him later. Until then, she had more important people to handle.

She turned around and Demyan was gone.

“Where did he go?” Emmeline asked the soldiers. Their weapons clattered to the ground as they barreled down the stairwell.

Emmeline
rushed to Flora and O’fin and removed the sacks from their faces. Flora’s hair clung to her neck and O’fin’s cheeks flushed pink.

“A
re you hurt?” Emmeline asked.

“Don’t you dare go after him,”
Flora said, ignoring her question.

“I have to
.”

“No
, you don’t. You have control of your power now. What more do you want?”

“Demyan is the root of all this.
He planned for this to happen and I want to know why. And then I want him to suffer.”

“Answers won’t erase anything he’s done.”

“No, but they’ll stop him from causing any more damage in my life. He’s killed countless people and he’ll keep killing until I stop him. I’m the only one who can, Flora. You’ve seen him; he’s ruthless.”

Flora too
k hold of Emmeline’s arm. “You will not survive his death.”

Emmeline snatched the torch
from the ground. “I’ll be fine.”

Flora
’s shoulders sagged as Emmeline gave her a thankful nod and tore down the stairs. The further Emmeline descended, the surer she became that Demyan would have gone to his lair. What better place for him to call on Orinda than a room with fire on all four walls. In fact, Emmeline guessed that was the reason Orinda could appear and disappear from that room. The increased fire had to be aiding her travel somehow. There was so much Emmeline didn’t understand about her own power!

She barreled down the hall and slammed a wave of heat at the door. Wood splintered into the room, slicing
through the furniture and into the walls. Smoke billowed out the open door and Emmeline froze. All the fires had been smothered. Steam rose from each of the four fireplaces as if someone had recently drenched them. With the smoke thickening by the second and no other source of light, the room appeared more dead than alive.

Emmeline clenched her fists.
She knew Demyan was hiding behind the smoke, afraid for the first time in his life. With the torch still in her hand, Emmeline filled herself with enough heat to clear a small forest and then marched forward.

Erick sliced a path through the battle and found Commander Benshi contending with two Grietian soldiers. With a few well-placed jabs, the Commander eliminated his opponents and faced Erick with a bow. “Your Highness,” he said.

“My
battle is within the walls, Commander,” Erick said. “I need to go in before it is too late for her.”

“The gates will be heavily guarded.” Commander Benshi said.

“I’ll find another way if I have to. I need to leave this battle in your hands.”

Commander Benshi thrust his sword in
to an approaching Grietian. “Vanquish your enemy and recover your fair maiden!” He shouted with a grin. “The great Army of Dolmerti has never known defeat and that will not change today.

With a smile in response,
Erick tipped his head and urged his horse into a maddening dash toward the castle walls. He barreled through the battle, swiping his blade left and right at anyone who dared challenge him. His horse threw its head with each attack, rearing up on its hind legs and crashing down with enough momentum to strengthen Erick’s swing.

As he n
eared the city gates, Erick veered his mount toward the south wall where the battle thinned and disappeared around the corner. He leapt from his horse, and with a quick pat of appreciation, he slipped into the shadows of the high wall.

Approach
ing the south gate, Erick relaxed. With only a handful of soldiers standing guard, it wouldn’t be difficult to get through. He straightened his shoulders and began stalking toward the gate when a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. Erick spun around and pointed his sword in the face of the man who had surprised him.

“Burungi!” Erick breathed.
He lowered his sword and glanced over his shoulders to see if the soldiers had noticed. They hadn’t moved, nor did their expressions register any alarm. “What are you doing here? I didn’t hear you behind me.”

“No one ever hears me.”

“Indeed. What do you need?”

“I have come to help you. Come, we
must go this way.” Burungi gestured back toward the east wall and the heat of the battle.

“I
don’t have the time to go all the way back there. Emmeline is inside these walls and I need to get to her before it’s too late.”

“So,
what are we waiting for?” Burungi asked, gesturing once again toward the east gate.

Erick shook his head. “
There are only six or seven guards here. I won’t have a problem getting through here.”

Burungi
craned his neck and glanced over Erick’s shoulders. “It is a trap,” he said settling back on his feet. “Trust me. There are probably fifteen or twenty men on the other side waiting for someone like you who thinks they can sneak in another way. Come, we will enter through the pit.”

“The pit?”

“Yes, it is where your princess has lived for the past several weeks. There is a section of the east wall that meets with the surrounding foothills. A small cave is hidden there that leads into the pit. I saw her leaving one night. She didn’t know I was there. No one ever does. I couldn’t believe she was escaping considering how often she talked about needing to stay to keep her prince safe.”

Erick’s swallowed. How could he have failed her so grossly?

“I figured it had all been a ruse to gain my good opinion, and my food, but when she climbed her way back in later that night I knew she had been speaking the truth. Only a woman truly in love would endure the pit any longer than necessary. That is why I decided to find you.”

“So she
wouldn’t have to endure the pit?”

“Because
I admire her strength and self-sacrificing devotion. I’d rather risk my life to help someone of her character than live one more day serving a man like Tiergan. I’m amazed she didn’t scream when she crawled through the snakes.”

“Snakes!” Erick hissed. “Emmeline has been forced to live among snakes?”
He ran a hand through his hair. He would make whoever did this to her suffer. “The pit it is. Show me the way.”

Burungi grinned and crouched
along the stone wall. Without making a sound he kept to the shadows and leapt forward at blinding speeds. Erick’s steps were nowhere near as quiet, but he managed to keep up with Burungi well enough. They darted through the battlefield once again and stopped upon reaching the portion of the mountain Burungi had described. An outstretched arm of rock jutted from the main body of the mountain and molded into the east wall.

“This is it?” Erick asked as they climbed the hill and faced a small hole in the ground
. “This leads to the pit?”

“Do you see anything else?” Burungi
asked.

“No.”

“Who shall enter first, you or I?”

Erick glanced back at the battlefield and at the high wall
s with soldiers pacing between their posts. It would be another hour before Dolmerti’s army defeated Griet’s, but he couldn’t wait that long. Emmeline was in danger, he could feel it. And he could feel her slipping from him.

“I’ll go
first,” Erick said, sheathing his sword. He crawled through the first several feet on his hands and knees and then the tunnel narrowed, forcing him to lie on his chest and push with his elbows and feet. Every few shoves forward, his shoulders wedged into the sides of the tunnel, ripping the fabric of his coat and tearing into his skin. He gritted his teeth and pushed through each tight spot until his face slammed into a wall of stone. Pulling back, he felt around him for another route, but found only rock and dirt.

“This wretched tunnel is a dead end,
” Erick said, annoyed.

“What is blocking your way?”

“What does it matter?” He flinched, ashamed by his rude tone. He took a calming breath, but it didn’t help. He’d already lost too much time wriggling through the tunnel and now he’d have to waste just as much time wriggling back. He was going to lose her.

“
What blocks your path?”

“A stone.
I’m pushing back now so you might want to get out of the way.”

“Y
ou call yourself the future ruler of Dolmerti? Put some muscle into that stone, my good man!”

In no mood to argue, Erick pushed on
the stone more as means to propel himself backward than to follow Burungi’s instructions. To his surprise, the stone budged. He pushed harder and it budged even further. Encouraged, Erick continued pushing until the stone slid free of the tunnel walls and into a stench thicker than mud. Erick squeezed through the opening and found himself standing in what could only be described as a pit, just as Burungi had said.

Burungi s
quirmed through the opening and jumped to his feet. “See,” Burungi whispered. “What did I say?”

“You were right,” Erick
said, slapping his hand on Burungi’s dirty shoulder. “Thank you, my friend. You have helped me in more ways than you know. Now here, give me a hand and lift me out of here.”

“It’s too high. Stand on my shoulders and you might be able to reach the edge
.”

Erick’s eyes adjusted to the low light and he smiled.
“Or we could use this rope ladder hanging from the top.”

Burungi’s shoulders fell. “I had held hope she escaped through the tunnel.”

Erick shook his head and tested the rope’s strength. “No, he has her. No one else could have caused the fissure.”

“Could’ve been an earthquake.”

“No, it was Emmeline,” Erick said as he climbed the ladder. He pulled himself over the pit edge and stood at his full height. “Where do we go from here?”

“
Out the door and up the stairs,” Burungi whispered as he kicked a leg over the edge and hauled himself out. “Once we are inside we’ll have to guess our way from there. I am not familiar with the rooms of the castle.”

Erick nodded and
they charged toward the door.

Emmeline squinted against the sudden sting in her eyes. Blinding smoke moved around her like ghostly shadows, clinging to her hair and clothes.

“Demyan!
” Emmeline shouted.

The torch wavered and then gasped a last breath before
surrendering to the heavy smoke. Emmeline scowled and tossed the useless stick to the side. She had enough heat to do what she wanted anyway. At least, she hoped she did. Demyan seemed to know much more about her power, which left her very little room for error.

A rush of air moved above Emmeline and she looked up to see the bottom of two boots
crashing down on her. She tumbled back, and before she could catch her breath, Demyan was on top of her, pinning her arms to her sides with his legs. He pushed on her shoulders with fisted hands and sneered.

“You’re powerless without your hands,” Demyan said. He moved his hands to her neck. “You can do nothing without them!”