Page 81 of Vow of the Shadow King

I arrive just in time to see Hael plunge her blade into the back of the cave devil’s head. She’s too late. There’s already so much carnage. Blood and death and broken bodies. Three women, whose faces I cannot see, but whose emotions I’d felt so vividly in their last, dreadful moments. Hael was quick, but not quick enough.

She steps away from the monster’s body and hastens to a fourth woman, who has curled herself into a trembling ball. I dare not draw any nearer. Her feelings are powerful enough to stab me through the gut. So, I hold back, and find my gaze inexorably drawn to the broken body of the cave devil.

It twitches. Stirs.

Moans.

It’s still alive! Barely, but I feel the energy in it, the lifeforce clinging with all the strength of those hideous, curved claws. There’s something else there as well, something beyond the instinct for survival. A feeling I’ve sensed before. That roiling darkness, full of heat, full of . . . full of . . .poison.

Hardly knowing what I do, I draw nearer and drop to my knees beside the devil. Its head jerks slightly, as though aware of me. Pulse after pulse of feeling ripples out from it. That same darkness, that same living despair, like demonic possession. This creature’s very existence is suffering.

I reach out. My hand hovers over the plated head of the beast. I know this darkness. I felt it once before, churning within Vor’s soul. It didn’t belong to him anymore than it belongs to this poor monster. Its mind has been savagely used and broken. But maybe I can—

With a sickening crack, Hael’s booted foot connects with the beast’s head. Something snaps—the last lingering thread of life. The cave devil crumples in a heap of flesh and bones, and Hael stands over me, scowling. “I told you to stay where you were!”

I blink blearily up at her. “It seemed safer close to you.”

She grunts. Then she bends and picks me up again. “You’re mad, little Princess. What were you doing touching awoggha?Even mostly dead, it could still bite your hand off!”

I cannot answer. I haven’t the strength. “The gardens, Hael,” I say softly. “Now.”

She shakes her head but strides off again with purpose. I cast a last glance back over her shoulder. “Where is the woman?” I ask, struggling to get the words out. “The survivor?”

“I told her to find a safe place and block all entrances,” Hael replied. “Which is what we ought to be doing right now.”

I don’t reply. What would be the point? I have neither the breath nor the strength to explain myself. Hael carries me through passages I vaguely recognize. The stone walls ring with the sounds of battle and the savage snarls and shrieks of thewoggha. I grip my crystal hard, try to block out some of it. There’s so much, too much! If I don’t find help, it’s going to kill me.

We turn a corner. Hael curses bitterly. Lifting my head from her shoulder, I see a crowd before us, blocking the way. Screams issue from the far side, and the pulse of all that terror is enough to make me cry out, “Back, Hael! Back, I beg you!”

She doesn’t question me. She retreats down the passage and darts into another chamber, a small sitting room. “I’m sorry, Princess,” she says, breathing hard from her efforts. “I can’t get you to the gardens. This is the best I can do. We must make our stand here.”

When I don’t protest, she sets me down on a chair then secures the door, checks the windows, searches for places of weakness where a devil might gain entry. Screams and the sound of pounding feet flow by on the other side of the door. I don’t know if they’re even now being torn apart by monsters or tearing each other apart in their need to escape. I want to order Hael to open the door again, to let at least a few of those poor souls join us here, under her protection. I cannot find the words. I can only sit where she’s dropped me, gripping my crystal.

This must be the peril Vor set out to face. But the monsters are here. In the city. In the palace. Which means . . . which means . . .Vor . . .

Suddenly, I feel it. Thepull.I turn sharply, draw a short breath. It was so strong, so unmistakable. Rising from the chair, I stagger across the little room to the nearest window. To my surprise, it overlooks the garden. We are situated above one of the paths, the window’s ledge maybe ten feet up. From here, if I crane my head, I can see the circle of seven tall crystals on their high promontory.

They reach out to me. Call me to them. A pulse. A pull. Aneed.

The screams of the dead and dying echo in my ears, batter my gods-gift. Vor would give anything to save these people. Perhaps he has already given everything. How can I do any less?

I swallow. The idea forming in my head isn’t much, scarcely more than a glimmer of a thought. But it’s there. And the pull of those stones is strong, stronger even than the pain rippling through my body. I can do this. I don’t know how. But I can. I will.

Hands fumbling, I find the latch, push the window open.

“Princess!”

I look back, one leg already swung over the windowsill. Hael lunges toward me, her hand outstretched. “Princess, what are you doing?”

“It’s the only way, Hael,” I say.

Then I pull my other leg out, grip the sill, dangle as low as I can. And drop.

35

VOR

Everything fades away.

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