Page 71 of Ryld's Shadows
* * * *
The aelfe weren’t gentle when they tossed Kai and Hank into the cave. Not that Kai had expected them to be, but he landed on the hand with the cursed jewel embedded. The thing had worked its way nearly under his skin and agony shot up his arm, whiting out his vision for a few precious seconds.
Hank lay motionless, sprawled where they had thrown him, and perhaps that was for the best. Unconscious, Hank wouldn’t need to worry about Ryld or his own fate.
“What if the orc wakes up?” Green-hair asked with a frown, as if he’d heard Kai’s thoughts.
“From her ladyship’s sleep spell?” Blondie laughed so hard he doubled over. “He’s not waking up unless someone breaks that spell and that horrid drow can’t get to his magic, can he?”
They both laughed at that, ugly, mean-spirited chuckles.
Kai did manage to worm his way over to Hank and cover his head, just as the aelfe began their bombardment of the rock face. Dust and small debris rained down as they threw fireball after fireball at the cliff face. In a disheartening small space of time, the debris became chunks of rock, then huge slabs thudding down in front of the cave entrance.
Kai did his best to shield Hank as the light slowly faded and finally vanished in a great rumbling of stone. He could hear the occasional thunk of rock falling for a few moments more, then the fading sound of hoof beats as the warriors rode away.
While drow eyes were dark-adapted, even he needed a speck of light to see and there was none. No light and nothing he could do. Perhaps if a rat happened by, he might send it with a message to the drow court, though there might not be any space for even a rat to wriggle through. Other than that, he had to hope that AURA would come looking for them when he didn’t check in or that someone might care enough to figure out what had happened.
“I’m sorry, Hank. You should have been safe back in New York with your Ryld. I dragged you all the way out here to die on what’s worse than a fool’s errand.”
Kai heaved a sigh and let his head rest on Hank’s chest. The curse was only getting more intense, and it was all the movement he could manage now. They probably had days before the air grew too poisoned to breathe. Not that he was giving up yet. Tenzi would expect him to find some way out of this, and he hoped fervently that there would be one, but he hated being helpless and he hated having to wait for things that might never come.
* * * *
Ryld spent an uncomfortable morning with Lady Jessamine. She grated on his nerves in the same way Yarrow had. Questioning him on things he had no answers for and pushing him to think and do as she wished. In the back of his mind was a constant worried whisper that Hank and Kai had gone into a dangerous situation, again. Waiting, again, to hear word from them was almost unbearable.
He was thinking about making an excuse. That he wanted to go lie down perhaps, since that wasn’t a lie, when two elves dressed in warrior leathers strode into the sitting room. Both looked dusty and haggard, and only gave the briefest bow to their queen before spilling their news. “My lady, I’m afraid there’s been a terrible accident.”
Before he could say more a loud commotion drew their attention to the door and another elf burst into the room. “My queen, there’s a brigade of drow on horseback coming.”
Jessamine was on her feet before he finished speaking. The two elves who had come first had weapons in their hands as if they were facing the drow already.
Ryld stood too, raising his voice to be heard over the general din of people running and shouting in the hall and the messenger elf babbling about how many and how well armed the drow were.
“What accident? What happened?” Ryld demanded.
“A rock slide,” the green-haired elf said. “Your companions… I’m afraid—”
“No! No—Where are they? Where’s Hank?”
“The side of the mountain came down and they were caught in the fall. They’re gone.”
Ryld’s vision dimmed and the sudden chaos in the room as more elves came running in seemed unreal, far away. Rocks. A landslide… Hank caught in the fall. No, no, it couldn’t be true. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him from the room. He didn’t resist. He could barely stand. Lady Jessamine was snapping orders. It was her hand that gripped him.
Screams rose from outside the great doors of the hall, and the chilling sound of a drow battle cry. He should have been terrified, but he felt entirely numb, encased in ice. It wasn’t real. None of this could be real. He must have fallen asleep and was having a terrible nightmare. Kai gone. Hank… He refused to accept they were gone.
Shafts of afternoon sunlight blinded him as he was thrust outside. Lady Jessamine shook his arm, her fingers digging into his flesh. “These vicious drow loosened the rocks that caused the landslide. They killed your friends and now they’ve come to take you.”
He stared at her, her face a mask of rage so unlike the mask of welcome she normally wore. Rage and a desperate fear. He knew those things well. The ice started to crack around his heart, and he heard his own voice in his ears rising in a high wail of anguish.
Jessamine slapped him. “You want vengeance! Let your beasts go after these drow.”
Ryld felt the darkness rushing into the place where ice had been. The brightness of the sun grew dim, shadows from every tree and rock and the warriors fighting around the hall all started to twist and jump in jerky movements, growing impossibly larger.
“Ryld!”
Ryld could no longer speak or move to answer Dzev. The drow mage yanked his horse to a halt, its hooves churning the dirt.
“Kill him!” Jessamine screamed, though to whom she was speaking Ryld wasn’t sure. The drow were already outnumbered, the shadows were about to tear free. When they did, the ground would churn with blood as well as dirt.
