Page 80 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

But I guessed when you had an elder god riding your ass half the time, it put a different perspective on things.

I suddenly wondered who, exactly, had let the assassins in here that had almost killed Nimue. Forcing her to run away to save her life and somehow end up dead at the hands of Aeslinn’s estranged wife, or so the rumors said. Because it had to be somebody in charge, right? With enough knowledge about this place and enough ambition to decide that he was tired of playing second fiddle?

If so, he didn’t seem to be enjoying his power all that much at the moment, nor did he seem to notice that the soldiers were still armed. Or maybe he was just past caring. He grabbed the leader by his sensible ponytail and jerked his neck back, causing the wounded soldier, weak though he was, to growl and grab for his dagger.

But the leader put out a hand, stopping him.

Feltin never even noticed.

“Then you find her, you find both of them and finish your task. Or I will finish you. Do you understand me?”

“I understand.”

“Then do it now!”

And I guessed that was all we needed to see because we were abruptly jerked out of there. However, I couldn’t see where we were headed this time because the lights had just gone out. And because our speed was so dizzying that I started to wonder if this sort of thing could do permanent damage.

Then we came to a stop, hard enough to give me whiplash if I currently had a neck, and I stopped wondering about anything. I felt nauseous and unwell, although not as bad as before; Faerie must be compensating. And I still couldn’t half see, just torchlight splashing on rough-hewn stone.

My eyes slowly adjusted enough to make out the vague outlines of a tunnel full of the same group of slaves from the makeshift hospital.

This must be later than the previous vision with them, as they were on the move, with people being carried on stretchers or limping along, helped by their healthier friends. And were almost shoulder to shoulder because the tunnel was narrow, and the poorly excavated walls had plenty of pointy bits that would tear your skin if you got too close. That left everybody bunched in the middle, obscuring my view, and I guessed Faerie must have realized that.

Because she started pushing us forward, even through people’s bodies at times, as if we were the ghosts that this place didn’t have. Until we burst through the last of the crowd, and I spotted Alphonse up ahead with a heavily bandaged arm, although not because he was injured. Masters heal faster than that, even relatively low-level ones like Alphonse, but he was swinging a torch around in that hand and didn’t want to risk the sparks hitting his skin.

The light it and the few other torches shed bounced unevenly off his face, which was tilted upward like master vamps do when on a scent. Alphonse wasn’t as gifted as some, but he was a master, and their noses were as good as a bloodhound’s any day. And his was twitching.

“This way!” he called after a brief pause, and we were off again, down a branch in the tunnel to the left.

Everyone followed him even though Alphonse was as much of a stranger here as I was. Enid seemed confused about that, too, and quickly caught up with him. And grabbed the arm with the torch, its radiance turning her hair to flame and causing him to curse and whirl on her.

And then his features softened.

Maybe because she hadn’t bothered to reapply the glamourie since nobody else down here looked any better. Or perhaps she didn’t have the juice. She appeared exhausted, with pale, pinched skin beyond the vicious scarring and wild eyes.

“Don’t grab the torch,” Alphonse told her just as Faerie plunged us out of the gray haze of transit and into full immersion.

“How can you smell anything past that thing?” she demanded. “And are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Pretty sure—”

“That isn’t good enough! Nimue’s personal bodyguard is hunting us as we speak!”

“Yeah, I kinda got that.”

“So, what if you’re wrong? Nobody even knew this place existed!” she gestured around wildly at the tunnel, almost hitting me in the face again, only this time, I ducked.

“I’m not wrong.”

“Then what is that?” she demanded, pointing at the floor, where a thin stream of water was sloshing underfoot.

“A good sign,” Alphonse said and was off again.

But Enid didn’t like that answer, although, at the moment, she didn’t look like she’d like much of anything. They were presumably running from the bastards Feltin had put on their trail, which was absolutely the right move, but she disagreed with it. She might have been exhausted, in pain, and almost out of magic, but she wanted to fight.

She reminded me of those witches I’d seen back in Wales and their resolve, their courage, and their fury. It seemed that the best part of the ancient covens’ blood had ended up in Faerie. I could see it in every line of her body, in the shape of her jaw, and in the way she caught up to Alphonse again and—

“Don’t grab the torch!” he told her, pulling it away just in time. “Unless you want your guide to go up in flames!”

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