Page 58 of Tomb of Ancients
Her eyes widened, the snake around her neck drawing back. “She is at rest, little one. In you.”
I blinked. “Like... Father was? Her whole mind and will was given to me, not just her spirit?”
“I am sure you will hear her,” Malatriss said with a nod, “when she is ready to speak.”
Mother did not speak as Malatriss led me away from the single pool of light in the tomb. And she remained silent as the Binder retreated to its nesting place, its body and legs receding into the deep shadows of the vast, perhaps endless top of the tomb. This had been a place of my dreams once, and with Mother within me, I wondered if I would see it again. I wondered if it would return only as a nightmare, after all this.
Mother remained silent as I limped along, dragging her body because I could not properly carry her. Over and over again Ilooked at her lips, realizing each time that they would be still. The tomb never brightened, but I sensed the sleeping forms of all those gods around us, waiting to be pawns again in the Binders’ games.
A door appeared, much like the one that we had entered through at the castle, but instead of blackness beyond there was the promise of something else. I saw green and sunlight, a hint of ancient stone. There was nothing to feel but persistence. Need. The way out lay before me. Mother had to come along, and no matter how long it took to drag her out, I would huff and sweat and grunt and struggle. She would not be fodder for another book. She deserved to have the sun’s kiss and the fields’ embrace one more time.
Malatriss waited next to the door, her head drawn back, chin high. She lifted one dark brown brow in expectation as I sidled toward freedom. Her snake, Nira, danced its head back and forth, sizing me up for a meal.
“Do not trouble yourself,” I told her, sensing the cold, fresh air of our world. “I will never come here again. I wouldn’t bewilling.”
She froze, but the snake darted forward, wrapping itself around me, Malatriss holding her tail while the snake squeezed, forcing the breath out of me. In my shock, Mother’s body slid out of my grasp.
“You were the first to survive the dice and the Binder in this place,” Malatriss whispered, her eyes as cold as the void. Sheflashed her razor-sharp teeth. “Maybe you should die instead. Maybe it would be better if nobody escaped, not even when fortune and fate have their way.”
“Please.” My hands wrapped around the snake, and I found Mother’s strength, pressing hard, digging my fingers into the soft, fleshy middle of the creature. “Let me go, or your pet dies with me.”
“Nira!”
It was a call to attack. But I could attack, too, with what little strength I still possessed. I had come too far, lost too much, to give up on the threshold of survival. My hands crushed down before the snake could strike, and it gave a strangled hiss. Malatriss screamed in fury, and I felt the creature’s grasp loosen around my neck. With the last of my breath, I pulled, hard, flinging the broken snake at her mistress, crouching, grabbing Mother by the shoulders and dragging until every muscle screamed. The door was open only a crack, and it closed, slowly, but I forced us through, listening to Malatriss weep and curse as we landed on the other side, my last glimpse of the Binder’s realm a mouth full of teeth and sorrow.
I collected myself on the other side with a gasp, falling to my knees under the dead weight of Mother’s body. At first, I was greeted with silence, then intermittent bird song, then a long, groaningharoohthat I knew could belong only to a dog.
That spurred me to my feet, and I ignored the blinding painin my arm, staggering under my burden, taking one slow step after another away from the castle door. There was no ramp this time; I had simply been dumped out where I had begun, like so much unwanted refuse. A low sprawl of bodies lay across the courtyard, each more covered in blood than the last.
Khent was closest to the door, lying in a heap, panting, lingering in his moon-touched form. But the moon was gone now, the sun returned once we emerged from the door. I watched the magic fade from him until he was but a man again, slashed with deep wounds, his eye and jaw badly bruised. Mother slid from my arms gently, and I joined him on the ground, pressing the blood-soaked fringe from his eyes and breathing a sigh of relief as he swore, spat blood, and slicked the sweat from his face.
“Did we win?” he asked, head lolling back on his shoulders.
“In a fashion,” I said at first. Then, “No, not really. But stars, I’m so happy to see you alive.”
“Me, too,” he teased, then twisted on his side. “That one was about to finish me off,” Khent explained, pointing at Finch. “But then... but then...”
“The book,” I told him. “It’s gone. I cannot say what will happen to them now.”
“Teyou, they dropped all at once,” he said. “Like leaves floating one by one down to a river.” He noticed me favoring my left arm and frowned, getting onto his knees and gingerlytaking my right wrist. I hissed through my teeth, clamping a hand down on his shoulder.
“Broken. No idea what it looks like. Frankly, I’m not ready to see.”
“We must find a physician then.” Khent stood, shaky, and lifted me up by my waist. “Or Mother could try to heal you, but—”
“But she’s gone,” I finished. We had only a moment to look at her, for there was movement among the other bodies. Their need was more urgent, and I accepted Khent’s help as he guided me over toward the three men flat in the dirt.
“Did you do it?” Dalton gasped. He did not appear terribly hurt, but he clasped his chest, gulping air, harder and harder, and it was clear he could not breathe. “Is it gone?”
“I destroyed it. I’m so sorry, I don’t know if it was right...” I lowered myself next to him, and took the hand that he offered, letting him place it back on his fluttering chest. “You’re dying.”
“Now that it comes to it,” he whispered. “I’m not afraid. Tell Henry... Tell him I was wrong. He can be more than he is. There’s still time.” Blood trickled from his lips, and I reached under him to support his head. He wasn’t finished, and I wasn’t leaving until he had said all he wanted to say. “What was it like?” Dalton asked. The bandage had fallen away from his eyes, and I gently wiped the blood and perspiration from his forehead, looking down into the darkened red pits wherehis eyes had been. “Was it astounding?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “But terrible, too. I wish I could tell you all about it.”
“My dreams of it will be better,” he said. “They always are. But this feeling... I think it’s time for me to go now. I think I have no choice.”
I pressed my eyes shut and tried not to let it hurt so much. “I’ve killed you,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
