Page 84 of Of Steel and Scale

“We’ve no pens,” he cut in grimly. “This cavern was designed as a temporary refuge against tropical storms and tsunamis. We have enough essentials—food, water, and medical supplies—to last us a few weeks if necessary, but we never imagined we’d come under physical attack, and never thought to include weapons or scribes in the stores.”

I was guessing they would from now on, when it was all too late. Hindsight was a wonderful thing.

“Then I’ll leave mine once I make my final report.” I glanced down at the map again. “What little remains of Illistin burns. I saw no movement in the town nor any sign of bodies. The paths up here appeared empty, but that does not mean?—”

I stopped as a siren rang out—two short blasts then one long one.

My pulse rate stuttered briefly, then leapt into overdrive.

The cavern was under attack.

10

I straightened abruptly.“How many people have you got at the entrance?”

“Ten.” He glanced at the earth mage. “Rudy, get down there and raise a barrier.”

“I’ll go with?—”

“No, in Vahree’s name, you won’t.” Katter’s gaze snapped back to me. “There’s been enough royal blood shed on this soil already. I’ll not risk?—”

“You can’tnotrisk it,” I cut in. “I’m more than likely the best-trained soldier you have right now, and I’m a fire witch besides.”

He sucked in a breath, displeasure flickering through his bright eyes. But he knew well enough I could have easily pulled rank and overridden him. Not as a soldier—I was a captain, not a commander—but as a princess. I might not be my father’s heir, but my position still outranked his.

“Fine,” he snapped. “Follow Rudy.”

I dropped my pack, bow, and quiver onto the ground next to the table, then strapped on my sword and knife as I ran out after Rudy. The siren cut out suddenly, and the brief, deep silence was eerie. Then the sound of footsteps and voices rose again as those on the ground level were ushered up a level and into the deeper tunnels.

We ran down sweeping stone steps, then into a wide, unnaturally smooth tunnel lit by regularly placed light tubes. The sound of screaming echoed from up ahead, which definitely wasn’t a good sign, given the voices held a Jakarran accent rather than the guttural intonations of the riders. But even worse was the ground’s trembling, which became more and more evident the closer we got to the entrance cavern. Dust was shimmering down from the tunnel’s roofline and that was an even worse sign.

Because if this area was about to be hit by a quake, the tremors wouldn’t have been confined to just this part of the tunnel.

This was the work of mages, not nature.

“Rudy—”

“I feel it.”

“Can you stop it?”

“Maybe.” The gaze he cast over his shoulder was determined. “It will of course depend on just how many of them there are.”

“Then your best bet is to thin out their ranks.” I drew my sword, its blade bright in the semi- shadowed tunnel. “Stop here and feel for their weight on the ground—it’ll be different to that of the soldiers attacking us. When you find them, open a massive chasm underneath them and, once they’ve dropped, backfill it. If they survive the fall, they’ll be too busy saving their own lives to worry about us.”

It wasn’t an original idea—we’d employed it many times over the decades after our mages had made the discovery about the weight differences. It had stopped the Mareritt for a good while, but in recent times, their mages had simply taken to climbing trees before spelling and hiding their presence that way. Mareritt were many things, but they weren’t dumb.

“Nasty,” Rudy said. “I like it.”

As he dropped and pressed his hands against the stone, I ran on, sweeping around the tunnel’s curve. I came out into a small but natural vestibule and utter chaos.

Five guards were on the ground, writhing and screaming as their flesh bubbled and steamed. The stench of their burning flesh filled the air, though it was almost overwhelmed by the faintly sweet but musty scent of the liquid dung the riders used. Two men and a woman were hunkered behind the semicircular barrier that surrounded the jagged, angular entrance, alternately rising and firing arrows into the entrance tunnel. It was hard to say if the arrows were effective or not, as the tunnel’s shadows hid our foe, but two of the three were using standard metal arrowheads. The final two guards stood either side of the entrance, their swords sheathed but bows notched and ready. Both their arrowheads were Ithican glass. As I belted toward the barrier, the guard on the left of the entrance nodded at the other, who quickly stepped sideways, aimed his bow, and unleashed his arrow in one smooth movement, and then retreated. A stream of brown liquid chased after him, splashing across the area between the entrance and the barrier, melting the rock, and deepening the crevices that already crisscrossed the area. Gold glinted briefly in the deep of the entrance’s tunnel, moving with speed toward the small chamber rather than away. I called to my fire but before I could unleash it, two gold-armored warriors burst from the tunnel, one with an arrow still sticking out of his shoulder, both of them swinging wickedly barbed metal clubs that were at least four feet in length and a good fist wide. One of the guards immediately went down, his gut torn open by the club. The second was quicker, ducking and scrambling away; the club aimed at his head smashed into the wall behind him instead, sending thick shards of rock slicing through the air.

The guards behind the barrier were notching and unleashing arrows in a steady stream but none of them got through the riders’ armor or helmets. The two of them roared, raised their thick clubs above their heads, and charged, one at the barrier, the other at the guard who’d escaped. As he stood his ground and notched another Ithican arrow, I slid to a stop and unleashed my fire, lassoing it around the two warriors and pulling them tightly together.

They roared in fury, the harsh sound echoing. As one tore at the leash with the wicked points of metal littering his club’s length, the other batted away the Ithican arrows aimed his way. I fed more strength into the fire, increasing its intensity, until it was sheet of sheer flame that burned white hot around them. Their clubs melted first, then their golden armor began to ooze, gradually at first, then becoming thin, glittering streams that ran down their bodies onto the floor. They writhed and screamed, the sound a guttural echo of the men and women who lay scattered on the floor around me. Then their armor was gone, and only flesh and bone remained. They were ashed in seconds.

As their dust fell lightly to the floor, I flicked the thick, fiery leash deeper into the tunnel. Heard another scream, then the harsh sound of boots on stone, retreating fast.

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