WarriorsandLovers (14 page)

“Once Hopewood realizes this attack has failed, he’ll try
something else,” Judie said. “We have to go to the governing council.”

“We’re not going to the council,” Tybor replied. “In the
time they’d take to make a decision, Hopewood could launch fifty attacks.” He
glanced at Elijah. “We act on our own, without asking anyone’s permission.”

“I agree,” Huon said grimly. “We made an error when we
failed to make certain he was dead the first time. It’s a mistake I won’t make
again. Tybor, how long will it take you to be ready?”

“You
can’t
go to the surface,” Judie warned them.
“After last time it’s too risky. Hopewood will have even more spies out looking
for you. They’ll know exactly who they’re looking for. There’s also a strong
chance the authorities are looking for you as well.”

“You forget,” Huon said, taking her hand in his. “It may
only have been weeks ago for us but fifteen years have passed on the surface
world. No one will be looking for us.”

“Let me go back.” Elijah said. “I know Hopewood. I know his
setup. The Gatekeepers are gone. As far as I can tell, he only has one other
man working with him.” He looked at the three people standing in front of him.
“I have to convince him he’s wrong—horribly wrong. If I can’t do that, I’ll go
to the authorities.”

“And tell them what?” Tybor’s mouth curled scornfully.

“About the Dvalinn, about what Hopewood planned to do…”

“You’d be locked up. Hopewood would find some other way to
achieve his goal.” Tybor replied. “Don’t underestimate this man. He’ll never
give up. The only way to deal with him is to kill him. You don’t have the
guts.”

Elijah looked away, then brought his gaze back to meet
Tybor’s. “I intended to wipe out your people. I bear the blame. I’ll do
everything I can to make Hopewood see the Dvalinn are no threat. But if I can’t
do it and the only way to make sure your people are safe is to kill him, then I
will. I owe you that much.”

“What reason do we have to believe you?” Huon asked. “How do
we know you won’t get back to the surface, tell Hopewood exactly what happened
and help him plan another attack?”

“I won’t. You must be able to read the truth. I hate that
Hopewood used me, lied to me, made me prepared to do the most dishonorable,
evil thing I could ever imagine.”

“You don’t have to trust him,” Eora said. “I’ll follow him
to the surface. If he tries to betray us, I’ll kill him. I’ll kill Hopewood.”

Nieko’s heart thudded. Eora had always taken risks but this
was crazy. “You can’t do it, Eora.”

“I can,” she answered. “I’m the logical person to do it. I
know more about the surface and humans than most Dvalinn.”

“You don’t know as much about them as I do,” Judie said. “If
anyone goes it should be me.”

“No!” Tybor roared. “Hopewood knows you. He would never
trust you again. In any case, you can’t go. The only way to prevent you aging
at a normal human rate is for you to stay here.”

“I
want
to go,” Eora insisted. “It’ll probably be the
only chance I ever get to see the surface.”

Huon and Tybor were legendary for their strength but they
wouldn’t be able to stop Eora once she was determined on a path of action.
There was only one thing Nieko could do.

“I’m coming with you.” He folded his arms across his chest.
No backing down. Where she went, he went, whether she cared or not.

“Do I get any say in this?” Elijah asked.

“No.” All four Dvalinn spoke at once.

“We don’t trust you,” Huon said. “And it would be stupid to
pretend we did.” He turned to Nieko. “Go. Kill Hopewood if you can and Denton
if you have to. If things go pear-shaped, report back here at once. We’ll take
it to the council. They can send a team in.”

“So why aren’t we doing that now?” Nieko asked.

“If what Denton says is true—there are no more Guardians and
Hopewood is no longer a physical force—you or Eora should be able to deal with
him quickly. I expect both of you will do a better job of keeping Denton under
control now you know what he’s capable of.”

“I don’t need to kept under control,” Elijah burst out.

“Shut up.” This time Judie’s voice joined the chorus.

“What part of
we don’t trust you
are you not
getting?” Nieko snarled.

“You’re not going alone,” Tybor said to Elijah, “so you can
stop arguing.”

“If we do need the council’s intervention, outcasts or not,
they’ll listen to us.” Huon added. “I doubt if they’d do the same for two
youngsters who were running around where they weren’t supposed to be.”

He glared at Nieko and Eora. A snort of laughter escaped
Tybor.

“What?” Huon snapped.

“I seem to recall someone who got pretty damn mad when
anyone might have suggested he was too young or inexperienced.” Tybor chuckled.

“And I think I proved my point,
old man
.” Huon’s
stern expression relaxed. He draped his arm across Tybor’s shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re never going to let me forget it.” Tybor
grinned and the craggy face looked less intimidating. He still looked as if he
could rip an enemy apart with one hand, but at least now it appeared he might
take the time to knock them out first. “Might as well get it done. You ready to
go?”

“We can’t do it from here,” Eora said. “There’s a ban on
teleporting. The authorities would be all over anyone who tried to teleport in
or out of Ogof.”

“They didn’t come when I teleported in,” Elijah said.

“There was a thermo-magnetic storm brewing. No one would
have teleported into the center of it,” Tybor replied.

“Let’s not make it easy for the UDBC,” Huon said. “You can
leave from the same place the human arrived.”

Nieko picked up his pack again. “Let’s go, then.”

“Not on your own. We’re coming with you to the portal
point,” Tybor said. “I have to trust you to take care of this human once you
get to the surface, but until you do there’s no point taking any risks.” He
picked up Elijah’s backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then held out a
hand to Judie. Together they led the little procession, Eora following the lead
two, then Elijah, with Nieko inserting himself directly behind him. Huon took
the rear point.

At each junction Nieko tensed, his senses focused on Elijah,
watching to see if he tried to run, but he only indicated the direction to take
and plodded on as before, his head held low, shoulders bent as if he carried an
invisible weight.

They reached a point where the corridor narrowed. Elijah
called out, “This is it. Here’s the mark I left when I came in.” He stepped
forward. “There’s a problem. The place I came in from—there could be a lot of
people hanging about. If we three suddenly—”

“It’s after nightfall on the surface,” Tybor said. “There
won’t be any tourists around to see or be hurt.”

“You know where I’m going,” Elijah said. It wasn’t a
question.

“We know. If you’re not a fully functioning telekinetic,”
Huon confirmed, “there’s only one portal strong enough to get you here.”. “Been
there. Done that.”

There was obviously a lot more to Huon and Tybor’s mission
to the surface than Nieko was aware of. After they eliminated Hopewood and made
it back home, he was going to be asking the two men some more questions.

“And after we’ve eliminated Hopewood?” Eora asked.

“You make sure the Gatekeepers’ organization is truly broken
up beyond hope of recovery. If Denton is wrong and you find they still exist,
destroy anyone and anything you see as a danger. We can’t afford to be
merciful.”

Huon handed Nieko and Eora several packets.

“What’s that?” Elijah asked.

“It’s the component chemicals to make fireballs. When the
two chemicals are squeezed together they create an explosive sphere.” A wicked
grin spread across Huon’s face. “You throw them at the enemy,” he explained.
“And whoosh. No more enemy.”

“Why not use a gun?”

“Any weapon made of metal weakens a Dvalinn as soon as they
touch it,” Judie explained. “The fireballs are devastatingly effective when
thrown by a skilled warrior.

“We know how to do it,” Nieko said. “Eora and I are both
trained to use them.”

“What Nieko isn’t telling you,” Eora added, “is he’s really,
really good. No one in our academy year bettered his hit average.”

“So if I have to kill you,” Nieko said, glaring at Elijah
with all the malice he felt, “you won’t see it coming.”

“You don’t trust me. I got that.” Elijah stood with his feet
braced apart, his hands jammed at his hips. “I’m still going.”

“Yep,” Huon said. “Time to head to the surface. Elijah, you know
the target area, so you leave first. Nieko and Eora will follow
immediately
.
They can lock on to your telepathic wake. They’ll materialize right behind
you.”

“Don’t think you can get away,” Nieko said. We’ll be on you
like stink. I’ll be on my way before your shadow fades.”

Elijah’s fists ached with the desire to thump Nieko—so
arrogant, certain he was better than any mere human. Forget waiting for Tybor
or Huon to give him permission to teleport. He was getting out of this place
right now. Let the Dvalinn prick catch up if he could. Elijah was going home.

He visualized one of the standing stones and waited for the
sense of disorientation to take him. The air thickened and darkened. A wash of
dizziness hit and he closed his eyes. The dizziness subsided—the world
steadied.

He opened his eyes…

To see four Dvalinn and one human staring fixedly at him,
their puzzled expressions lit by the glow from the solid rock walls behind them.
He looked around wildly. He hadn’t moved a step from where he’d been.

“I did something wrong,” he muttered. “I’ll try again.”

He screwed his face up and clenched his fists, concentrating
every ounce of power he had on the image of Stonehenge, on his desire to get
back to the surface, on his need to get out. But this time when he opened his
eyes, he knew where he was, knew he’d failed to escape this living tomb.

“I don’t understand,” he growled. “I got here. I haven’t
changed.”

“You’re only
half
-Dvalinn,” Tybor said. “Your powers
aren’t strong enough.”

“They
must
be. I got here on my own. I can get out.”

“You used the power of the Stonehenge portal. It’s strong
but it only works one way.”

“Then get me to a portal that works the other damn way,”
Elijah yelled. “Get me out of here!”

“The assisted portals are all on the surface,” Tybor told
him calmly. “They exist to help us get home in an emergency. If a Dvalinn needs
assistance to get
to
the surface, he shouldn’t be going in the first
place.”

“There has to be another way,” Lije insisted. “Hopewood got
home again.”

“He had an electronic transporter that locked on to any
Dvalinn coming back to the Underworld. It carried Hopewood along with him.”
Judie said, her face somber. “It also killed its victim. To get back to the
surface, Hopewood used the same transporter to follow the teleport wake he rode
in on. He had a huge battery pack to supercharge the process. Didn’t he give
you the transporter and battery pack? Even though you’re part Dvalinn, he’d
know you couldn’t get home again without help.”

But he hadn’t. He hadn’t even mentioned it. None of Elijah’s
training had addressed the process of teleporting out of Dvalinn territory. As
soon as Elijah had the ability to control his direction, Hopewood had taken him
to Stonehenge. Like a Kamikaze pilot, he’d been taught what he needed to know
to get to his destination. And like those pilots, he had no way to return.

A thick mist swirled in front of Elijah’s vision. Not the
pulsing black that accompanied teleporting but a hot, red cloud of rage.
“Hopewood wanted me to die here with you.”

He’d had promised to free Elijah of the curse of telepathy
and telekinesis. He hadn’t told him the price of freedom was death. Hopewood
had manipulated him with a mixture of lies and half-truths, bent him to his
will.

The rage deepened and became visceral. He’d been brought up
to hate what he was—and he hadn’t even known the basic facts of his identity.
But Hopewood had, and he’d used his knowledge to play on Elijah’s
self-loathing, on his fear of discovery. Manipulated him like a puppet.

Elijah was
surrounded
by lies and liars. How could he
believe anything anyone told him ever again? The only thing to trust in this
world was the purely physical. What you could see, feel and hear. Take no one
on trust. Believe nobody.

A touch on his shoulder brought him up, fists clenched,
ready to strike at anyone who came near him. His hand was grabbed and twisted
behind his back. The pain brought him back to awareness of his surroundings and
of the angry woman who constrained him. Elijah rolled his shoulders and Eora
released her grip. He turned to face her.

“Snap out of it,” she commanded. “You don’t have time to
fall apart.”

“Snap out of what? I’m fucking stuck underground. Half of me
isn’t even human. I’m surrounded by people who keep threatening to kill me.”

“You’re not dead yet, so ditch the pity party,” Nieko cut
in. “We have plans to make.”

“What plans?” Elijah asked.

“We have to kill Hopewood.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me,” Elijah sneered. “Hopewood
abandoned me here. Without his machinery I can’t get back, so killing him might
be a little bit beyond my capabilities.”

“It’s not beyond ours,” Eora retorted.

“Fine—you go, then,” Elijah said.

“You have to help them navigate through the human world,”
Judie said. “Theoretical knowledge is no substitute for experience.”

“Is nobody listening to anything I say?” Elijah asked in
exasperation. “I’m stuck in this godforsaken shithole.”

“No, you’re not,” Tybor said. A look passed between Huon,
Tybor and Judie. “How do you think we got Judie down here?” Tybor asked. “We
had help from Stonehenge, sure, but Judie has no teleporting powers at all. You
do.”